The Paradox of Remnant
by Lyoko Barbossa
Summary: Life throws many different challenges to many different people... It is these challenges that define us. So what happens when one is given the challenge of surviving a world of death, gunfire and dust while wielding a gamer's weapon? Let's find out. (Rated M for swearing and violence)
1. Prologue

Time...

Space...

The Mind...

The Soul...

Reality...

Alone, these elements hold nothing in common...

Only together can the similarities be found...

Since the dawn of humanity, mankind have sought the answers to the greatest questions of their existence; "What is time?", "What's out there?", "Are we real?", "What is in a soul?", "What is the mind?". These questions and more burn in the minds of the most intelligent of humans but the wisest amongst them do not dwell on these - rather, they are guided by potential answers to these questions. There is one question, however, that drives even the most astute of minds into finding an answer to; life's most powerful burning question - the question of "Why?"

"Why are we here?"

"Why do we exist?"

"Why does this happen?"

"Why do socks get lost in the drier?"

Yeah, you'd be surprised how many people actually ask that last one... Anyway...

These questions all drive humanity to learn as much about the universe as they can; even now they continuously learn new things about the universe they previously thought impossible. This hunt for knowledge has even caused men and women alike to become disillusioned to their own conceptions of reality - so much so that it has become an obsession for them. However, it is sometimes the simpler minds that tend to find the answers to these questions...

One such mind has even somehow found themselves in an impossible situation which begs the question of why he's there. Is he there out of dumb luck? Is he there to destroy that place? Or is he there for the amusement of some higher power?

We will find out...

* * *

))-First Person PoV-((

* * *

Chirping...

Birds chirping... Wind howling... Rustling of grass...

These are the sounds that assault my ears as consciousness returns to me... I feel so exhausted for some reason despite the fact that I was given a full night's sleep last night. As I begin to stir, my mind began to wonder on the other sensations my body was feeling - the cool grass beneath my body and on my bare arms, tickling them mercilessly as I start to move; the wind blowing softly over my body every once in a while, further stirring me from my slumber; the warmth of the summer sun on my body, giving me energy to awaken and face what is to come. My thoughts soon drifted to thinking how I got there; this wasn't my bed nor my bedroom. I struggled to do so, but I propped myself on my elbows with a groan of effort gripping the grass in what was my open hand as added support. As I open my eyes, everything appeared in a hazy fuzz that I just couldn't make anything out from; I propped my weight heavily on my right arm which was still gripping the grass and used the back of my left hand to wipe the sleep and water from my eyes, vainly trying to clear my vision. Eventually, I succeed to open my eyes and get a view of where I was; only to realize that where I am was far from the small house I came from - the view was, in a word, incredible.

The first things I noticed were the clear, almost baby blue sky above the forest canopy and the tall, almost pure emerald trees of varying yet gargantuan sizes with their many branches swaying softly in the wind as it glides past them. As I look around above me, I notice small things such as the squirrels and birds that made their homes in the trees above, the bright yellow morning sun shining off in the distance as it nears the end of morning, and the incredible moon that beautifully reflected the suns light with it's shattered shar-WAIT A MINUTE!

A SHATTERED moon!?

That is right, I kid you not; before me was a moon thrice as large as the one I was familiar with yet it was quite literally in shambles. There was no sign of what caused such a planetary cataclysmic event or even an explanation on how such an object could actually enforce it's gravitational hold on the planet's oceans even in it's devastated state. I felt like I had been staring at that moon for ages in shock and utter fear at what was before me yet mere minutes passed as I continued to stare at what I thought was impossible - I just could not believe what was there and in front of me... The only thing I could think of to even hope to explain it was that I was somehow in a very vivid, lucid dream that I had no control over; I was tempted to pinch myself as I came to this thought but another thought crossed my mind as I lowered my gaze at last to the ground in front of me. The bushes and grass, much like the trees, were also a very vivid emerald green that was just too beautiful to believe. I had never seen anything like this in person - in fact, the only time I had ever seen something like this was in... a... web...

"... Oh crapbaskets..." I whispered to myself more than anything else within earshot as a single thought came to my head; I have somehow wound up in the world of Remnant and right smack dab in the middle of the Emerald Forest no less. I look up to the moon once more before I grow concerned remembering what was lying in wait within these woods; the Creatures of Grimm... Terrible monsters of shadowy death as far as I'm concerned; though if you asked a certain friend of mine, she'd swear they were Hollows from Bleach...

Back to the matter at hand, I shook my head and decided to calm my mind, knowing what attracts the Grimm is fear and despair, before turning back to my surroundings. As I push myself into a sitting position, I notice only emerald green shrubbery in both the trees, the bushes, and the small plants and grass littering the forest floor. I notice only a few small animals like squirrels and birds in the trees and on the ground and even a small bunny hopping into one of the bushes as I continue to look around seeing only one or two rocks in my general vicinity. That all lost my interest once I saw something out of the corner of my eye; a blue and black rectangular piece of what I assumed was glossy plastic at first glance with what appeared to be a yellow knob of some kind on the blue part of it. As I looked at the object, I noticed that there was an exceptionally colorful label on the side which prompted me to investigate it further. I crawled closer to the object and began to notice more details in the actual object itself that I didn't notice before. It had a few screw-like moldings into the side of it where the label was, and as I got closer to it I noticed that it had a pair of buttons on what I was assuming the front of it just above where the "knob" was and a black handle on the back. The label itself held a black border with a jigsaw puzzle background of pastel colors with some of the pieces missing. There was a small blue circle "head" on it that had a tuft of blue curled hair in between it's yellow eyes and mouth as it stared out at presumably whoever looks at the label with what I can only describe as a deadpanning emo expression.

This wasn't what caught my attention, however - it was what the label had on it that I could read that got my interest.

On the top left of the label, right on the border, were the letters "GD" on it; on the bottom left were a bunch of random numbers in between hyphens from what I could see, but the words directly under the blue head was when I finally thought to myself 'N-No way... it can't be...' Right there; in bubbly, capital, rainbow poly-chromatic technicolor, was the name of something I never thought I would wake up with...

"PERFECT PUZZLE"


	2. Pilot part I

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

I am alive and well!

Well... Mostly...

I'm having to keep myself sane by trying to write stories once more but it's not really working all that well...

I'll just keep it simple by saying I've been having IRL issues all these years so...

Here's the next chapter of the Paradox of Remnant!

Btw, I own nothing but the OC used...

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I couldn't... I couldn't believe what I was seeing... There was no way that this was real... Yet here it was, laying on the grass staring me in the face as if it were taunting me - the Gashat Gear Dual... I mean for heaven's sake, it's SUPPOSED to be FAKE - a toy out of a kid's show! Not that I actually HAD the toy, I mean I've SEEN the toy and whatnot, but I never had it, but this is just...- I didn't know what to do...

I stared at the Gashat for what felt like hours to me; I lost track of time completely as I stared at it in disbelief, awe and oddly enough trepidatious fear. That's right; Fear... I've seen what one of these kind of things can do to a normal human - I knew what would happen if I should even TOUCH that thing let alone USE it.. I was scared and amazed but that fear soon took a backseat to my curiosity as I slowly crawled ever so closer to it. As I was within arm's reach, I stretched a hand out to it and touched it with an index finger, feeling a surprisingly cool metal instead of what I had assumed was plastic for the brief instant that I had touched it before pulling my hand away as if it were slapped. When nothing happened, I reached for it once more, this time placing all my fingertips onto it and feeling it... It was actually made of some kind of metal and not plastic like I had thought... I picked it up to get a good look at the sides I could not see, having seen enough of the Perfect Puzzle side of the Gashat. I turned it so the knob was facing me and saw that there was a black-border label on the face as well but it was split into two images; the first was what was seen on the Perfect Puzzle label but on the right side of the knob - the left side, however, had what appeared to be a Ryu knockoff with reddish skin, red hair, hilariously long eyebrows, and a pair of red boxing gloves in front of a flaming background of red...

Good god, that's a LOT of red...

The writing on it was in a flaming-styled orange text that read 'Knock-out Fighter' which I had assumed was for the Fighter Gamer form... As I turned it around, I had expected to find a screwhole with panel lines along the outside of the label for Knock-out Fighter to indicate a battery compartment; something to inicate that it was just a toy... yet I couldn't find them... I couldn't even find any speakers on it. I was starting to panic now - this was the REAL deal. As I bolted upright to a sitting position, I was VERY tempted to just throw this thing away; to get rid of it before something bad could happen, before a thought hit me; a thought that I SO did not want to remember...

'Isn't this forest supposed to be crawling with Grimm?'

As soon as that thought hit me, I decided I had to act fast before any of the black creatures of Hell itself came upon me; I had to use the Gashat Gear Dual before they smelled my fear of it. Hesitantly, I reached my free hand to the knob and, thinking it would be easier to learn to use, turned it so the Perfect Puzzle lable was facing down to me. As I turned it, I heard an electronic noise that was... well is... hard to describe... As soon as I finished turning it though, a strange, strained voice called out from not the device but all around me in a way...

" **PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

As I turned behind me, I saw a holographic display of the game's screen similar to the label appear behind me like a backboard. As it appeared, techno-music began to play as disc-like objects began to fly out of the screen, which prompted my fear reaction to kick in as I crossed my arms and looked away to protect myself, with a new voice calling out once more, though this one was less creepy and more controlled I guess you could say?

" **What's the next stage?** "

The music and the question kept repeating as I looked around to see what was going on; littered across the forest floor were discs that had different power-up names and images across them. Some were _Muscular_ , some were _Speeding-Up_ , some were _Stretch_ and even a couple were things like _Surprise_ or the like. I didn't have long to look at them all before I began to hear the bushes rustling to my side. I looked to the bushes and before I even thought about it, I had said "Henshin," before I pressed one of the buttons on the side of the device which made a sort of confirmation noise before speaking once more.

" **DUAL UP!** "

With that, a holographic image of what the Puzzle Gamer form appeared before me, gliding over me as I felt the armor form around me.

" **GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

But as it finished passing me, that's when I felt it - sheer pain.

Total, unbridled pain. It felt like every atom in my body was on fire and lit aflame with gasoline as the electricity surged through me. How I was able to stay standing I have no idea, but I noticed a number out of the corner of my eye that was rapidly going down. I had no idea what would happen if it hit 0, so I tried to calm myself and push the pain aside which only made it worse. Forcing it to stop was not going to help me so I had try something else... As the pain continued, I spread my legs out and crossed my arms over my chest while curled up a little; trying to imitate what had happened with Snipe when he first reached level 50, before I let out a roarcry and extended my arms to either side of me.

That was all it took for the pain to stop and the electricity to vanish.

A shockwave rolled out from me as the arcs of electricity left my body and left the grass beneath my feet scorched. My first thought was on the fact that everything seemed a little shorter than it was earlier which meant I must have actually grown to accommodate the suit itself. I looked at my hands and saw that I was now wearing blue gloves and armguards with a single golden band around my wrist on the gaurds. Along the back of my hands were golden plates that rested comfortably. I trail my eyes from my hands up my arms and see the all-too-familiar giant blue shoulder pads with orange tops that will eventually become my weapons in Knockout form. My chest housed a golden torso armor with what appeared to be a puzzle design inside it similar to the background of the title screen for Perfect Puzzle. I look down to see the white part of the suit with black, square-like pixels along the sides, a golden belt along my waist, and golden bands like those on my armguards around the middle of my thighs and my ankles. A pair of golden stripe-like armor plates adorned each of my legs; one going just between my knee and my mid-thigh and one covering my knee and going all the way down to my ankle and even continuing over my foot while connecting to my heels which were also that same golden plate. A pair of white stripes also went down the sides of my feet from those golden stripes as well. All in all...

I looked like a mess, but this was Kamen Rider Para-DX in his level 50 Puzzle Gamer for- 'Wait, WHAT?!'

I looked out the corner of my eye and saw that number from before was my Level... and it was set at Level 2! How did that happen!? Was it some kind of limiter or something akin to it doing that? Opposite side of my level, I noticed something like an HP bar and... 'A power bar? I wonder what that's about...' I thought to myself as I looked back to my level and just above it were the letters ' _EXP_ ' with a bar between it and my level. At least now I know what's going on but before I could think any further on it, I saw what was rustling the bushes leaping out towards me. A pair of humanoid beasts with wolven features; fur as black as pitch with ash-like whisps seeping from it; bone-like spines jutting out of their skin on their arms, backs and knees; hands and feet tipped with sharp, white claws; and bone-white masks adorning their upper maws and heads decorated with red designs; but their most disturbing feature was their eyes - yellow, glowing eyes that faded into an angry red...

Beowolves, the most common form of Grimm, had finally found me.

Before I could fully come to terms that this was now real, and unlike with the Gashat Gear Dual, the Beowolves gave me no time to react as one of them dashed up to and clawed at me - essentially slapping me upside the head and into a tree. "Gah... That hurt..." I said to no one in particular as I shook my head of the cobwebs before rolling out of the way of another swipe, but as I escaped the attack the other Beowolf swipped at me and barely caught my chestplate and staggered me back a little. As I look to my health, I noticed I had already lost 30% of it in those two attacks.

'Well that's not good,' I thought as I tensed up and looked back at the Grimm, 'I'll need to keep an eye on their actions.'

Doing so was about the best blessing in disguise I could have asked for as I started to backpedal away from their attacks in an almost skipping motion. Despite being able to keep away from them like this, I was wearing myself out and I noticed my power bar going up yet paid it no mind at the moment. I decided that now would be a good idea to go on the offensive and stopped long enough to swing a leg in a high kick at the head of the closest Beowolf, which caught the back of it's head on my foot, before putting all my effort into the kick and sending it into the path of it's partner. Doing so caused the two to careen out of control - tumbling over each other and into a tree themselves as they tried to right themselves.

"Either you two are REALLY young... Or you're the Bulk and Skull of Grimm..." I taunted at them, though I doubt they could even understand what I was saying. Even so, they must have at lest known it was a taunt as the one that got plowed into it's partner got up and ran straight for me. With a quick cry of "Oh crap," I started trying to dodge the Grimm's attacks, only to be hit by a stray swipe that sent me spiraling into one of the power-ups my transformation left behind; making me break it and forcing it to activate...

" **LIQUEFACTION!** "

Before I could even say "What", my entire body suddenly felt like it had lost the strength to stay up and my view of everything suddenly went from bird's-eye view to worm's view. I tried to look at myself only to find I couldn't move my head; just my eyes... However, I had realized what had happened as I saw an image of the image of the very power-up I had hit; a green medal with what appears to be a puddle with Rider Eyes...

In the words of Sarge and everyone from Red vs Blue...

"Son of a b*tch!"

I was LITERALLY melted into a puddle... Was this how Frosty felt when he melted?

I could not think long on this as the Grimm recovered from it's own shock and made to swipe at me. I braced myself for the incoming hit, but felt nothing even though I heard a splash.

I look at my health and see it only dropped another 5% from that swipe I took earlier and nothing more. The Beowolf looked just as confused before resuming it's attacks, desperate to tear me apart despite not being able to do so. What happened next I couldn't really help...

"HA!" I laughed, "YOU CAN'T HURT WHATCHA CAN'T TOUCH, NOW CAN YA BIG BAD WOLF!?" With that one taunt... I had invoked Murphy's Law...

The law that dictates that anything that CAN go wrong WILL go wrong...

I felt my body solidifying once more and forming into it's old shape before being backhanded by the Beowolf and sent tumbling down a hill. Skidding to a halt as I grip the ground and push my feet into it to stabilize myself, I looked to my health again, saw it dropped another 5% and began to compile my thoughts together.

'Okay, so I have the power to take these guys on but if they knock me into an actual object like a tree or something they can do way worse damage to me...' I concluded before glaring back up the hill at the Beowolves that were then beginning to prowl the hilltop waiting for my move, 'If that's the case, I need to finish them up as quickly as I can... The thing is, they have speed over me as well as numbers, but not smarts or damage so I have to -'

I notice a couple of Power-Ups just to my right that I recognized as the Stretch and Speed-Up items as the Stretch item was a pale pink medal that had the image of a Rider's arm stretching up and outward while the Speed-Up was a yellow medal with the image of a Rider running... 'If I could chain those two together, maybe...' I began to think, 'Just maybe I can actually pull off a powerful attack I can use to finish them.' With my plan in mind, I looked up at the Beowolves who finally grew tired of waiting and started to run down the hill at me in a full gallop. That was all I needed.

"Alright, hellhounds... Game On!"

I ran to them only to turn a sharp right and dodged their attacks which collided with each other and caused them to roll to where I had been at the bottom of the hill. Using my momentum, I climbed to the power-ups and slammed a fist through each of them; shattering them instantly.

" **SPEEDING-UP!** "

" **STRETCH!** "

With that, I turn back to my assailants and pulled my fists back as they rush back up to me in a blind fury. With a war cry, I threw a single punch that caused my arm to stretch and shoot out like a bullet from a gun and slam into the head of one of the Beowolves while the other looked on in shock and confusion which gave me a chance to also hit it with a punch similar to my first one but hitting it's chest instead. I threw more and more of these punches until my hands and arms became blurs and after-images of yellow and blue as a flurry of fists pummeled into the Grimm. Before long, I threw one final pair of punches that send the beasts flying backwards and into a tree and a rock respectively. With that, I smirked under my helmet and reached for the Gashat Gear Dual saying "Time to finish you dogs off - wait..." I tried grasping for the Gashat Gear Dual again only to find it wasn't there. 'Where is it?!' I thought as I frantically looked around for it before looking back up the hill as realization dawned on me - I had dropped it when they first attacked me! As soon as that thought hit me, I heard the power-down sound go off as my armor vanished; leaving me vulnerable to anything and everything with intent to kill.

Worst. Rider. EVER!

I looked back at my attackers to find, much to my relief, that they were still recovering from the short beating that they took earlier; so I took my chances and ran back up to the top of the hill and looked all over for the Gashat. I looked around trees, I looked under rocks and stones, I even stuck my head in bushes to see if it went flying into one. I couldn't find it anywhere! Then as luck would have it, I heard something snap before something heavy clocked my head. With a pained shout of "OW!", I looked up to see a branch had broken and looked back down to see what hit me; a blue and black object with a yellow knob - the Gashat Gear Dual!

"Finally!" I cried out in victory, "Now to finish this..." Quickly, I turned the knob back to it's default position before turning it back to Perfect Puzzle. The confirmation noise played out but before it could call out the game's name I hit the button that would transform me with a quick call of "Henshin!" as I did so.

" **DUAL UP!** "

The holographic screen depicting the Puzzle Gamer form floated over me and formed the armor over me once more, but this time there was no pain. This time...

I was prepared to fight.

" **GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

I gripped the Gashat Gear Dual tightly in my hand and watched as the Grimm slowly climbed the hill, still rough for wear but more than eager to fight... If only they knew what Hell awaited them...

"Alright, pups... I'm THROUGH playing around! It's time to END THIS!" I yelled out at them as if they could understand me before once more turning the knob to it's default position and again to Perfect Puzzle, but unlike before the voice called out a new command.

" **KIMEWAZA!** "

The sound of a strange electronic Gong of some kind started to play out as I shoved the Gashat Gear Dual into the black metal holster on my right hip.

" **DUAL GASHAT!** "

Blue energy began to swirl around my body before concentrating on my right foot and lower leg and glowing brilliantly. The power bar was full and flashed between yellow and blue rapidly as if it were affected by some unknown power-up.

" **PERFECT CRITICAL COMBO!** "

I knew this was going to be SUPER weak, but I had no choice; I just hoped that I had done enough damage to the Grimm as they charged me. I stepped forward with my left foot before swinging my right leg around and behind me in a roundhouse kick that lopped the head off the first Beowolf; this caused the second one to freeze as if in shock of what happened to it's partner but I didn't give it the mercy of contemplating it long as I threw my leg as high up as I could and swung it down in an axe-kick on top of it's head - cleaving it clean in two with a sickening flesh-slicing sound. Both corpses began to inflate before exploding in a burst of black powdery mist.

" **ALL CLEAR!** "

I was panting heavily under the helmet from exhaustion... Who knew making two kicks like that in a row would be so draining? I looked at the mist that still covered where the Beowolf bodies used to be was now slowly inching to me before siphoning itself into my chest. At first, I was panicking and about to make a mad dash away from it before I noticed my EXP bar was going up. It reached full shortly after and my level increased to 3 and continued to climb again after being reset before being filled up once more and resetting as my level increased to 4. The bar continued to fill up again but this time stopped just shy of one quarter of the way through; marking the end of the EXP I just gained from killing those Grimm. 'Guess I know how to gain my lost levels now...' I thought to myself as I heard the Game Clear music playing, but instead of Game Clear it gives a different announcement.

" **LEVEL UP!** "

I noticed that it was not kicking me out of my Rider form so I continued to look myself over to see if anything changed. The only thing I noticed was that my health was back to full and my power bar was now completely empty. Curiously, I pulled the Gashat Gear Dual to see if I could change into my Fighter Gamer form but then... This happened...

" **GASHOON!** "

I couldn't fight it - I sniggered and chuckled as I tried and failed to hold back my laughter. Every time I heard the Gashat in the show make that noise I just couldn't help but think that it was some buff, super manly man saying that as he was sneezing and was still trying very hard to be manly about it. After letting it out, I simply inhaled and exhaled before looking at the Gashat Gear Dual once more thinking 'This is going to be a long adventure, isn't it?' before I turned the knob to it's default setting and then to the Knock-Out Fighter side.

" **KNOCK-OUT FIGHTER!** "

Behind me, I looked to see the title screen of Knock-Out Fighter appear as heavy metal music began to play with a simple chant playing over and over with the music.

" **THE STRONGEST FIST! Round 1! ROCK AND FIRE!** "

I pressed the button with a silent "Dai-Henshin," before placing the Gashat back in the holster.

" **DUAL UP!** "

I felt a sudden push against my back as the knob on it turned and felt my helmet pulling an exorcist before I felt my weight shift from my shoulders to my forearms. I looked at my arms and saw that the shoulder pads had now been moved over my hands and now were red along with yellow flames along the knuckle part of the make-shift boxing gloves and going up them to my elbow. My blue gloves were now red and my new shoulderpads were angular golden shapes with a red and rounded under-guard with simple flame designs on them.

" **EXPLOSION HIT! KNOCK-OUT FIGHTER!** "

The announcement was all I needed to confirm that I had attained my Fighter Gamer form. I looked at my stats and saw only one power-up slot was available, as per my expectations, and looked to my level and EXP bar... Only to find the bar was empty and my level was once more 2... 'Great...' I thought in annoyance, 'I now have to level up both forms individually... This is going to be one hell of a grind...'

As I said this, I was startled as a lone Beowolf pop out of the bushes and prepared to swipe at me; however, my fear-driven instincts kicked in as I let out what was arguably a girlish yelp before slamming one of my over-sized fists into it, which sent it flying into a tree...

And exploding it on contact with said tree...

I was shocked... No, shocked was too much of an understatement; I was utterly FLABBERGASTED at what just happened... Through my helmet I stared at the spot where the Beowolf hit the tree, completely ignoring the black mist that glided into my chest as well as the rising EXP bar but what I couldn't ignore was hearing the announcement for leveling up and see I was now Level 3 and had little over 70% of the EXP required to hit level 4... I just... I literally broke down as I gave out a few groaning sobs before punching myself in the face...

" **K.O.!** "

"SHADDAP!"

* * *

There you have it! The next chapter in what will arguably be my most arduous task in fanfiction writing. I won't be able to update at the same intervals as this so don't expect any and I hope you all enjoyed it.


	3. Pilot part II

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! It makes me so happy knowing that you're all enjoying this story so far but it also makes me wonder just how far I can take this before my ADD kicks in and makes me forget it...

Now, to answer some reviews publicly I'm gonna resort to using the AN's up here to do so.

DevilMax, he will only attain Perfect Knock-out when he is level 50 in both forms and obtains a Gamer Driver. That is the ONLY way I'll let him do so.

Perfect Knockout, while I have toyed with and considered the idea of Bugsters being in the world of Remnant, I am still undecided on the matter as a whole mostly on the fact that Remnant is already a messed up place as it is what with all the Grimm roaming around an everything. That being said, only time itself can answer that one. Also, I'm glad I'm trying to do something unique. XD

Revamped Persona, other Riders appearing is still up in the air so I would advise patience until I can come to a decision; however, please note that a Rider Player will appear sometime by Season 3 IF I continue that long.

Ride player hary AND Hero King Gilgamesh... I am not saying ANYTHING else but this; you're gonna get your answers in this chapter. XD

Anyway, I own nothing but the OC used in this story and I hope you all enjoy this one as well.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

 **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** \- Specials

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

Three days...

It's been three days since I've woken up in this forest... Three days since I first found the Gashat Gear Dual... And three days since my first, and; despite how short it was, second battles... Since then I had found a rather large bush that was growing what looked to be strawberries on it as both a hiding place for when I sleep and a place I could turn to for quick food. As luck would have it, that very bush was growing near a small stream that I could use for drinking water so I had been able to survive for a while... I also managed to get a good look at myself in the water... And hoo boy...

I am nothing like I used to be...

Instead of flat, shoulder-length chestnut hair with olive green eyes my hair had changed to become a short, spiky, primarily bright red mess with twinges of my hair sticking up and a deep blue in color along with two of them jutting out like antennae; these two could reach past my neck if I were to stretch them out. Not that it mattered what I did to them, anyway; afterall they would just flip right back into place. My right eye was now the same bright red as my hair whereas my left eye was a cerulean blue... I also took notice of the clothes I was wearing as they weren't the pajamas I had worn when I went to bed on the night before I found myself on Remnant... I had on a simple black t-shirt with denim blue jeans and a pair of black shoes with yellow laces and white soles and trim lines that followed the outside of the laces and connected from the laces to the soles in three different places. Over my shirt I had on a crimson jacket with blue semi-long sleeves that went down to just below my elbows. Around my neck was a simple black string necklace that had a small wooden tiki hanging on it.

Overall... I think Coco would probably murder me for looking like this.

That thought would have brought a chuckle out of me if not for my frustration at this very moment... I was rapping my fingertips against a tree trunk in annoyance as I glared at the woods around me... The source of my frustration? Why the very thing I was looking for; the very thing that was missing from this scenario...

"Where the hell are all the Grimm?"

That's right - I had somehow scared off the Grimm... At first I was wondering if they were just waiting for me to drop my guard and actually slept outside my little hovel for an hour or so before going back into it because of the cold, but not a single sign of the Grimm could be found; without the Grimm, I'm short on EXP and, without EXP, I cannot level up. With that in mind, I had originally stayed there and hoped that by the fourth day in the Grim would be liable to attack me again yet nope; not a single hide nor hair of them... Either they're outright avoiding me or something else is attracting them away. Let's just hope it's the former cause if it's the latter...

I have no godly idea what could attract that many Grimm.

And not knowing a situation is worse than knowing the bad of a situation, so in a grunt of frustration I punched the tree I was leaning on before turning to the bush and grabbing some of the berries off of it for later consumption. I had made a make-shift basket out of some twigs and vines that I found lying around earlier on and used it for carrying any extra berries for when I had to travel; and this was one of those times as I put the berries I had just picked into it, picked up the Gashat Gear Dual and pocketed it into my jacket before I headed south. My frustration started when I found out I could kill the Grimm insanely faster as the Fighter Gamer rather than the Puzzle Gamer as that just literally broke my soul to find out I wasted all that time and effort for the same results... That then lead to my hunting spree on the Grimm which allowed me to reach level 18 with Knock-Out Fighter in a single day but that's when it all went downhill - on the next day, the Grimm stopped hunting me down and it became harder and harder to level up Perfect Puzzle; though not impossible as I got it up to level 14, but just barely. It was also around that time that I found out I could only chain 2 Power-Ups at a time until I had hit level 10 as the Puzzle Gamer. Now I can do 3; the max that was known to be done by Parad when he used the form yet I saw 3 more locked chain slots whenever I was transformed... As I trekked across the forest my mind began to wander on the life I had essentially been robbed from...

My mother who had been working herself to the point of death to make sure her kids were taken care of...

My older sister and brother that did everything they could to cause what they called "twinsanity" upon me...

My younger sister who could probably turn a Nevermore into a teddy bear by just looking at it AND whose birthday I had missed...

And my best friend who would give me her support even when I felt all I ever did was make things worse...

I'm not sure I can go back to all that but at the very least I can try and not mess THIS world up. Afterall, I was found with the Gashat Gear Dual; so maybe there was a reason for me being here? Whatever it was, though, would have to wait...

I have some levels to grind.

* * *

)-Sometime Later-(

* * *

It's been a few hours since I started my travel south and I've yet to see a single Grimm; this is concerning me greatly as that only ever happened when the Grimm found newer, more vulnerable prey to kill... That thought scares me but I can't really help anyone if A: I don't know where they are, and B: I let the fear get to me; even if the Grimm sensed and ignored my own fears, the stress of the fear itself doesn't do well for one's health. I had to get my mind distracted on something else... Sadly I found the perfect thing all too soon...

The Gashat Gear Dual...

In the show, the GGD; and I'm going to refer to it as that from now on, couldn't be used by any human without succumbing to a lethal amount of the Bugster Virus - that in itself SHOULD explain the pain I felt, but it doesn't explain the other inconsistencies. When Parad transformed into either Puzzle Gamer or Fighter Gamer he was automatically level 50, yet I had to start out as level 2; granted I couldn't start at level 1 because there is no level 1 form for either game but regardless I shouldn't have had to level up at all and let's not forget the fact that I lost the armor after being without the GGD for a few minutes - that never happened to Parad. Then we get into the inconsistencies with each game starting out with Perfect Puzzle... Parad's Puzzle Gamer form could chain three power-ups at any given time and they lasted until he used a finisher or until he tried for a fourth power-up; I, on the other hand, could only chain two power-ups at once, until I was level 10, with a time limit on the power-ups to boot but once I hit level 40 I can chain a grand total of six. That's quite a scary thought if Parad could do that...

And then we get into the crux of the inconsistencies... Knock-out Fighter... As the Fighter Gamer, Parad couldn't use power-ups but instead gains power the more fired up for a fight he gets; thus negating the need for power-ups. Don't get me wrong, I can use the whole fired-up power like him, but, on the other hand, I can use power-ups as Knock-out Fighter - just one power-up, which is also on a timer, but still it left me to thinking as I asked myself 'Just what else is different about this GGD than the original?'. I never really experiment with Knock-out Fighter because of how fast I leveled up that form, but I know I feel more comfortable as the Puzzle Gamer as that form was more versatile and I've had more experience in it in the short few days I've used it. I also know that, while Knock-out Fighter is more for immediate power, Perfect Puzzle has the potential to be the stronger of the two forms. My thoughts are cut short as I hear rustling in the bushes to my left as I continued to walk; only to stop and see what was making the noise as I pull the GGD out and put my basket of berries down. A pair of Grimm larger and stockier than the Beowolves lumbered out growling cautiously as they stared me down; these Grimm had spikes across their backs and arms and bony white masks that covered their entire top half of their heads with red designs that were more intricate than the Beowolves.

A pair of Ursa Minors had made the mistake of appearing - just what I was looking for! A smirk danced across my face for a moment before I turned the dial to Perfect Puzzle and received the confirmation noise for it's selection along with the familiar Techno music playing in loop.

" **PERFECT PUZZLE! What's the next stage?** "

As the power-ups began to dot the surrounding area, the smirk I wore replaced itself with a look of curiosity as the Grimm both flinched with one of them even taking a step back even though they never took their eyes off me to look at the discs that now littered the forest - no, I realized as I started to glare at them, not at me; they were looking at the GGD as if they had recognized it. That means these weren't younglings and that I had to eliminate them quickly before they got away. With a call of "Henshin!" I pressed the buttons to transform.

" **DUAL UP!** "

The holographic image of the Puzzle Gamer appeared in front of me and passed over me, covering my body with the armor as it did so and transforming me into Para-DX Puzzle Gamer once more as I placed the GGD into it's holster.

" **GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

With that done, I ran at them as the Grimm I had hunted had done to me. The Ursa that had stepped back charged at me, standing on it's hind legs as it neared striking range with a paw raised to attack me - big mistake as I slid under it's legs and, quite literally, kicked it's arse. The kick sent it tumbling onto it's belly but it wasn't enough to do much damage to it as it got back up and tried to turn to me, only to find a golden-soled boot to the face as I launched a short, flying kick at it. This sent it rolling to the side, but it's partner finally decided it wasn't going to fight alone as the Grimm charged straight for me with a swipe aimed at me. I jumped back quick enough to dodge it, but hadn't noticed the Grimm I had knocked before come at me from behind and swiped my back which sent me flying to the side; just like I figured, these weren't young Grimm - they knew what they were up against and attacked accordingly. If I was going to walk out of this relatively unharmed, I'd have to work fast. I spotted a red disc with the image of a Rider flexing and immediately rolled for it; narrowly dodging a double-pronged swipe from the Ursas. As I rushed to the power-up, I cocked a fist back and punched straight through it after reaching it.

" **MUSCULAR!** "

I felt my muscles tightening up as new-found strength filled me. Turning to the Ursas which were lumbering towards me from different directions, I smirked as I got into a ready stance. "Okay, let's see how you boys like picking on someone your own size?" I asked rhetorically before punching one in the gut, causing it to stumble, and used the momentum to slam the back of my heel into the side of the other's face sending it spiraling into a tree. The fact that neither one died in those hits was a testament to how sturdy these Grimm were. As I prepared to grab the GGD to perform my finishing blow, I heard gunfire from behind coming straight for me... "What in the world -" was all I could get out before getting flung by a yellow blur into the air...

" **LIQUEFACTION!** "

And straight into a Liquefaction power-up... My body melted as it splashed into the bushes that were under me. Granted this time wasn't all that bad as I had learned I could flex my body to move around, it was still annoying as hell whenever I didn't WANT to be liquidated...

"Monkey humpahs, what the hell was that?" I asked, but got an answer as I heard a distinctly female voice call out "Nailed it!" My eyes went wide for a moment as I tried to scuttle to where the voice came from.

* * *

)-Meanwhile, As the Fight Started-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Yang Xiao Long; a young woman with curly blond hair and lavender eyes wearing a tan jacket with golden brown piping and short, puffy sleeves with black cuffs that feature two gold buttons, a low cut yellow crop top with a black emblem of a burning heart on the left side of her chest in black, and a pair of black mini-shorts; was having the time of her life being able to almost literally fly through the air as she continued to propel herself with her shotgun gauntlets, Ember Celica, after being flung off of Beacon Cliff for her initiation. To her, the rush of the air and adrenaline was throwing her into an excited flurry that she thought lasted forever.

Sadly, it only lasted for about a few seconds before she realized she was about to hit the ground. "Whuh oh," she muttered as she used her gauntlets to keep herself airborne for as long as she could before hitting the ground, though she felt she had hit something on the way down but couldn't make out what it was on account of her sunglasses and how fast she was going. She managed to slow down her momentum enough, however, that a single roll was enough to stop her as she gave a quick "Nailed it!" in celebration of her small victory. Now that she was firmly on solid ground, however, she had a new dilemma. She had to find a partner and fast; only then could she retrieve the artifact and return to Beacon as a full-fledged student. She looked around her surroundings and called out to anyone that was listening to try and spot any signs of life but only found shrubbery and trees...

Until she heard some rustling in the bushes, that is.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I peeked out to see what was going on and saw, to my utter and absolute surprise, that Yang was actually here in the forest. Now that I knew she was real as well, I could finally deduce just WHEN the hell I was on Remnant...

'Okay, so... Judging by her outfit,' I started thinking to myself during my examination, 'she's still in Beacon or close to it... She's also got both arms so it's way before the Battle for Beacon... And she's calling out to people despite knowing if anyone is actually right here... Which means...'

My eyes go wide as the pieces began to fall into place. 'Which means this was the Initiation episode! Oh crap, I am royally screwed now,' I thought in a panic. The reason for my panic is the fact that I have been messing with time since I got here by hunting the Grimm. I had messed up big time. I was in so much of a panic that I almost didn't realize the Liquefaction power-up was wearing off which caused the bush I was in to rustle some. And Yang was on her way to where I was. I nearly froze until I heard the growl of one of the Ursas I was fighting from earlier behind me.

'Oh dear god, why?' I asked myself in my mind frozen in terror.

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

"Is someone there?" she asked in the direction of the noise. She followed the sounds of the rustling to a nearby bush that was behind her and peeked over the top of it in morbid curiosity as she asked, "Ruby, is that you?" Her reply was a standing Ursa minor that growled menacingly at her but she could look at it this way; she got her answer.

"Nope," she said as she made a popping sound with the 'p'.

Rolling to the side, she avoided the Ursa's swing and bought enough time to arm her weapons, but it also put herself in the line of fire of a second Ursa as it jumped over the bushes at her. Back-flipping away allowed her to once again avoid being hit. With one of the Ursas charging at her, she cocked a fist back and unleashed a shotgun-powered punch into the beast an sent it flying backwards, and with the second one coming after her she landed an uppercut on it and followed with a quick spin-kick to send it reeling next to it's partner. "You guys wouldn't happened to have seen a girl in a red hood, would you?" she asked the Grimm as they were recovering. One of them stood on it's hind legs and roared at her before swiping at her.

"You could just say 'No'..." she said as she hopped back from the first swipe and narrowly dodged the second with a back-flip. With a laugh, she started to taunt the massive beasts by saying "Geez, you two couldn't hit the broad side of a ba-," before stopping as she watched a lone strand of hair floated to the ground; her hair.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I couldn't help but silently cheer on who was, to me, the most likable character in the series as she fought the Ursas, though I did have the initial thoughts of her being a kill-stealing little firecracker since I weakened them... Then I saw the hair falling down and just facepalmed at the bad luck these two had.

"Oh crapbaskets," I whispered to myself, "You two are in for it now..."

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Yang, for lack of a better word, was furious; she had worked all morning to get her hair just the way she liked it and these... things... had to go and ruin it. As her eyes closed and opened back up, gone was the lavender irises in favor of a bright and burning red to symbolize a burning, raging fire of hatred she felt for these Ursa. Said Grimm could only glance at each other in confusion as they did not know what she was capable of; they would soon learn that this was a big mistake.

"You... MONSTERS!" she roared at the soon-to-be dead Grimm as her hair lit aflame, and what came next went by as fast as it had come. With her weapons' recoil, she dashed up to the Ursa that had dared to touch her hair and landing a single jab on it to disorient it before nailing it with an uppercut and sending it flying. In a flash, she sped up to it an unleashed a flurry of shotgun-powered punches that sent it straight through several trees and thus ending it's life. The second Ursa had done it's best to run up to this strange woman who had quickly dealt with it's partner but had been too late as she turns to the now standing beast and gloated, "What?! You want some two?!" The Ursa only had time to roar before a sickening slash of a blade against flesh is heard.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I had seen her pull that off, but to see it from an angle that the show could never give... It was spectacular. She was incredible with that kind of raw firepower, though scary when I thought about it - I never wanted to get on her bad side; Kamen Rider Para-DX or not... Then I saw the Ursa go down by being stabbed in the back with a pistol that had a blade pointing down from the barrel and a ribbon tied to the stock. I turned my head to see if my suspicions were true and, sure enough, they were...

Holding the other end of the ribbon was a fair skinned young girl with amber eyes and long black hair wearing purple eyeshadow, a black buttoned vest with coattails and a single silver button on the front. Underneath this was a white, sleeveless, high necked, crop undershirt, white shorts with a zipper on the front of each leg, black low-heeled boots, and full stockings with a color gradation of black to purple at her ankles; there was no doubt about it, this was Blake Belladonna in all her season 1 glory... but something seemed... "off" about her... I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I could tell it was on the tip of my tongue as she ripped the gun out of the corpse's back... Then it hit me as I looked at where her bow normally would be...

Instead of her black bow-tie bow on her head, her faunus cat ears were right there in plain sight for everyone and their grandmother to see! 'What the hell?' I asked myself in thought, 'She never took the bow off before she revealed her ears to Sun... Oh this is bad - REALLY bad.' If Blake was changed, then what else has changed because of me? And how DID she get changed? I didn't have long to contemplate, however, I HAD to get out of here before I was spotted. I slowly crawled my way out of the bushes towards a Speeding-Up disc when I snapped a twig under my heel. Blake was the one who responded to the noise with "Who's out there?!"

'Oh crapbaskets...'

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

The now ex-Ursa had hit the ground revealing Blake Belladonna, a fellow initiate classmate of Yang's, who had killed the Grimm by throwing her weapon into it's spine before tugging on the ribbon and ripping it out; catching it just as it reached her hand before she extended the blade and putting it back in her holster-blade. Smiling, she looked at the blond who only smirked back and said, "I coulda taken him..."

"That may be," Blake started off, "but I'm not too sure about our uninvited guest..."

Yang could only look at her in confusion as she looked around and asked, "Wait, you mean there really WAS someone here?"

"There IS someone here... I can't tell where but -" Blake was interrupted by the sound of a twig breaking. She looked to where the noise came from and called out "Who's out there?!"

" **SPEEDING-UP!** "

Instead of an answer of the typical sort, however, what she got was a yellow blur zipping by them and causing Yang to spin like a top for a few moments. Blake looked to her now partner to find that her blond friend was now dizzy as her eyes had been replaced with swirls.

"Blake, did you catch the number of that Bullhead pilot?" she joked as she shook her head to clear her equilibrium and regained her orientation. Blake could only smile as she thought to herself, 'This is going to be a fun time at Beacon; I just know it.'

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

As I was running, empowered by the Speeding-Up disc, I was scolding myself, "You stupid idiot; you nearly got caught! Your only saving grace was that damned power-up!" I sighed to myself as I continued to openly contemplate on everything that had happened. "Okay, so it looks like I was right and this actually IS the initiation test but there's some key differences; the first of which is how Yang landed which I can attest to by being slammed into a Liquefaction power-up, and then there's Blake's bow or lack thereof... Just what else has changed?" I couldn't contemplate anymore on it as I stop and get distracted by a sight I was more than glad to see; in one of the few clear openings in the forest was a large pack of Beowolves with an Alpha Beowolf seemingly surrounding someone or something. "Alright, a lucky break. They're Beowolves, but hey, I'll take what I can ge- wait... Who's that?" I asked myself as I noticed someone in the center of the pack. She was a pale skinned young girl with pale blue eyes and long white hair pulled back into an off-center bun tail and pinned with an icicle shaped tiara with a thigh-length strapless dress with faint color gradation from white to pale blue at the hem.

No doubt about it, this was Weiss Schnee, but why were my internal alarm bells ringing? I looked behind me to see a lone tree in the clearing, and then it hit me like a speeding train. I had to get out of here before - "Gotcha!" I heard someone say before the unavoidable happened.

"Oh crap!" I yelled as I rolled out of the way of a trail of fire that hits the tree before I ran back into the forest to avoid the incoming forest fire. "THESE GIRLS ARE OUT TO GET ME!" I yelled knowing I would be drowned out by the howls of the panicking Beowolves as I continued to run away.

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Two girls were running up a hill to escape the consuming flames that now threaten to engulf the forest and stopped only to catch their breath and look at the destruction that was caused. One of them was Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee dust company, and the person responsible for the actual flames. Her travel acquaintance; a fair skinned young girl with silver eyes and black hair that fades to dark red at the tips cut in an asymmetrical bob wearing a long sleeved thick black blouse with a high collar and red trim on the sleeves, a black waist cincher with red lacing up the front, and a black skirt with red trim, and a pair of thick black stockings and black combat boots with red laces, red trim around the top and red soles; was right behind her before looking back at the rising billows of smoke and turning back to her partner.

"What was that?!" she asked in frustration, "That should have been easy!"

Weiss began to grow impatient with her so-called partner's antics as she glared hard at the girl and said, "Well perhaps if you had exercised even the slightest amount of caution with the placement of your strikes, I wouldn't have set the forest on fire!" At this, Ruby scoffed at the girl and was about to retort before she could hear a small, strange sound; a sound that began to grow louder. "Hey wait... Do you hear that?" she asked the heiress who's only reply was to try and suggest that it was the sound of the flames burning down below.

"No no, not that... It sounds like... Buzzing..." she muttered as it continued to grow louder.

Weiss was now starting to internally panic as she could hear it. "Now that you mention it... I believe I do hear something akin to that..." They started to look around as the noise grew to the point of being painful on their ears before it suddenly stopped.

Ruby was the first to break the now eerie silence. "... Weiss?"

"Yes? What is it?"

"Do you have a feeling that something REALLY bad is going to happen any second now?" As she said this, a pair of very large, glowing orange eyes appeared in the shadows of the trees behind her. Having noticed this, Weiss was visibly shaking as she nodded her head but couldn't say anything as a shriek had startled both the girls along with the sound of wood being cut down following suit.

As they saw what caused this; both girls screamed as loud as their longs could carry their voices.

* * *

There it is; the next chapter. Sadly, I had to cut it there because the word count was getting too high... But fear not, for I WILL be working on the next chapter!

Until then... See you next game!


	4. Pilot part III

Hello, all you Boils and Ghouls! I hope you're ready for another chapter of "The Paradox of Remnant".

But first, let me start off by saying I am in love with the fact that many of you are enjoying yourselves with this story and wish to tell you I will be continuing it as much as I can.

Secondly, we have some qu estions to answer from the previous chapter's reviews; and for future reference, to all those who review without using an account, please do not use the word "Guest" in any way, shape, or format. Otherwise I won't even feel inclined to accept the review, let alone answer it because let's face it; if everyone were named Bob, no one would know who they were talking to. What I mean is unless I know who I am addressing, I might be answering someone else's question rather than the intended one and I hate being put in uncomfortable situations like that.

Lastly, I wish to give an apology to all those that I've told that we will learn the MC's name in this chapter. I am sorry to say I am not happy with how clumped up everything started to feel so I had to split the chapter into two and hope you can still enjoy it all the same. So with all that out of the way, let's begin the questions, shall we?

Epyon Legium, I did not want to make the MC OP as hell as it would in itself make the story boring and ultimately cliche. I've only seen one or two fanfics out of every 20 where the MC is OP be a good read and that should speak volumes about the desire for growth. That being said, this is fanfiction and we could literally make 2+2=Fish and no one would really care since it's for entertainment purposes.

God of Crossover, I'm still unsure about other series' Kamen Riders appearing in the story, however I can confirm that at least Emu Hojo will appear in a future filler chapter. Sorry if that's not the answer you're looking for.

Raidentensho, unfortunately I doubt I will be making any fan-made Gear Duals, but a gashat or two is in the works... Hopefully I can keep it up somewhat cause that update came out WAY sooner than I intended.

Dragon knight 87, you will have to wait until the next chapter where his name will be revealed, but not just to the cast.

Hero King Gilgamesh, they were referring to an event in the 6th episode of RWBY; The Emerald Forest part I. Weiss was getting ready to attack a Beowolf but Ruby got in the way and she couldn't stop her attack from hitting so she had to shoot it off to the side which hit a tree. Unless that's not what ya meant, in which case you're going to find out this chapter.

Rey kivat457, no there was not nor has there ever been a Para-DX before in Remnant. Besides, that'd be WAY too much...

And that's it for the questions, be sure to leave them in the review if you have any and I'll get to them as quickly as I can but for now, it's time to play The Game! FYI, everyone that read this just lost. XD

But seriously, on with the story! I own nothing but the MC used.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

 **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** \- Specials

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

A pair of adults were standing at the edge of Beacon Cliff, which overlooked the forest, looking over their scrolls when one of them; a middle-aged woman that has very light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face, and bright green eyes wearing thin ovular glasses, dangling teal earrings that match the hanging pendant on her collar, a white long-sleeved, pleated top that has a wide keyhole neckline and gauntlet cuffs that flare in pleats at the wrist with her lower body covered by a black high-waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black-brown stockings; walked to the other, a middle-aged man with tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes, a light complexion and sharp facial features wearing shaded glass spectacles and a small, purple, cross-shaped pin on the cowl around his neck, an unzipped black suit over a buttoned vest and green shirt while carrying a simple dull metal gray cane.

"Our last pair has been formed, Sir," the woman, Glynda Goodwitch, started off as she tapped her Scroll's screen to zoon in on the footage she was watching. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy, I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Ms. Nikos and Ms. Xiao Long."

"Hmmm?" was the only reply from the man, Ozpin.

"I don't care what his transcripts say," Glynda ranted, "that Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat."

"And what of Ms. Xiao Long?" Ozpin asked, "Surely Ms. Belladonna isn't that bad of an influence despite her being an ex-White Fang member..."

"That's just it, Professor - it's not Ms. Belladonna that has me worried," Glynda responded as she typed up something on her scroll which showed the footage of something golden flying straight past Yang and Blake. "It's what did that which has me concerned for her health."

At this, Ozpin's normally stoic face had it's black eyebrows trying to hide in his hair; a true sign of emotion if Glynda had seen one. They were both interrupted from their musings as terrified screams filled the speakers of their Scrolls. Ozpin nearly dropped his cane trying to find the video feed as Glynda searched through hers until they found the sources; Ruby and Weiss were in deeper trouble than they thought was possible.

"Glynda," he started as he got a grip of his cane again, a serious and grim expression donning his face, "We need to get them out of there."

"But what about -" Glynda started before the headmaster interrupted her.

"We cannot afford to lose Ms. Rose under any circumstances."

With a dejected sigh, as she hated doing things that were considered cheating, she agreed he was right as they hadn't seen anything like what was chasing the girls before. "Very well, professor. I'll have a Bullhead prepped for takeoff."

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

For the umpteenth time in my time on Remnant, I found myself asking "Why the hell am I here?!" For a recap, let's consider the following;

I'm being chased by monsterous creatures capable of killing humans in an instant.

I was nearly killed by one or more of the main cast members of one of my favorite series.

I've found a fully functioning GGD sitting right next to me when I FIRST woke up here that nearly KILLED me when I used it.

Oh, and let's not forget that since I'm in the past I am drastically altering the future by EXISTING here!

So again, I asked my self, "Why... the hell... am I here?!"

I was still recovering from running like hell away from being roasted to death by a misplaced strike from Weiss as I was contemplating why I had to go through all this; there's no WAY any SANE person would willingly put themselves through this, so why me?! I sat down next to a tree to catch my breath as my panting finally started slowing down; my body was aching and I was dizzy and dreary as hell; and what's worse is I had one of my favorite characters turn me into a puddle of goo - literally.

I was at my wit's end; I was tempted to de-henshin and just let whatever monster just waltz up to me and send me into the sweet, blissful embrace of death just to escape this madness; there was nothing here worth it for me; nothing for me to earn or gain in return for the embarrassment, harrassment and constant life-endangerment...

But that all changed as soon as I heard a pair of screams; screams of people I knew were not easy to scare. My exhaustion forgotten, I stood back up and looked up to the hill where I thought the screams came from as it was the only overpass high enough to still see the flames; Weiss and Ruby were in trouble if the flashes of white and red were anything to go by. After seeing that, I looked around for a power-up I could use and found the perfect one to reach them in time as I punched it.

" **SPEEDING-UP!** "

As I dashed up the hillside, I kept thinking to myself that I had to get to them fast enough; that I had to keep them safe. "Hold on, Ruby; Weiss," I said to myself as I ran as fast as my empowered legs could carry me.

"Help'sa comin'."

* * *

)-with Blake and Yang-(

* * *

The partners were following a dirt path that was leading them north as they discussed the recent happenings. "I'm tellin' ya, Blake," the blond started, "that was an alien."

"And I'm telling you that it wasn't; aliens don't exist," Blake retorted with a mirthful smirk without glancing at her partner.

Yang grinned at her Faunus friend before asking "Then how else do you explain a yellow blur that can outspeed my little sister, who's semblance is literally speed? Hmm?"

"Maybe it's another student who has her semblance?"

At this, Yang crossed her arms under her bust and puffed her cheeks in annoyance as she looked away from the raven-haired girl. "You're no fun, y'know," she said to Blake who merely rolled her eyes and giggled softly before replying, "Keep telling yourself that." Yang took this a challenge as she smirked at the cat faunus.

"Then how about you prove it - a hundred lien says that thing was from another world."

Blake glanced down in contemplation as she tapped her chin before deciding on what to do. "Hmmmm... I think I can lose that much..." she started before turning to her partner, "Okay, you're o-" she tried to finish but was interrupted by a pair of feint screaming that made her eyes go wide as she recognized the voices as Ruby and Weiss's; due to her ears, she was able to hear the voice despite being so far away but there was no mistaking one of the first people she met at Beacon. "Oh no..." she whispered in fear.

Yang saw her partner's sudden distress and tried to pry into it by asking what was going on, but was left behind as the young girl ran off; leaving Yang to chase after her and calling out to her, "Hey wait, what's wrong, kitty kat?!"

"It's Ruby; she's in trouble!"

That was all Yang needed to hear as she used Ember Celica to catch up with the faunus; an expression of seriousness seldomly seen on her face as she asked, "Where is she?" Blake merely ran faster towards an overpass with smoke coming from behind it as she gave her answer, "She's with Weiss; just follow me!"

* * *

)-With Ruby and Weiss-(

* * *

"Weiss, duck!"

With that one warning, the Schnee heiress was able to avoid a catastrophic slash before using her glyphs to propel her away from her attacker. The creature blurred before appearing in front of the one who had warned it's prey of it's attack before swiping at the young girl who narrowly avoided the attack in a burst of petals that were speeding to catch up to Weiss. "Ruby, what even IS that thing?!" the heiress asked her impromptu partner who could only shake her head.

"If you don't know what it is, then how should I know?!" They both glanced back at their attacker; a mantis-like Grimm of giant proportions easily outclassing a Deathstalker in pure size - it's body a pitch black with white bone armor along the top of the abdomen as wing casings covered in jagged red designs and entirely covering the thorax, wings as gray as smoke and tattered as decayed cloth, it's arms holding two bone-white jagged sickle blades on each arm with a single long claw at the joint where the blades bent, mandibles that split off from the top, left and right sides of a supposed eating cavity and angry orange eyes that faded to red near the head with white specs eerily like an iris that would always stare at whomever looks at it.

This monstrosity was as terrifying as it was formidable as it could keep up with its prey with relative ease; swiping and slashing at them continuously in what one would assume were vain attempts at killing the two girls. They bounced back and forth around it's limbs; hitting it with both blades and dust-based attacks to no avail as the beast would be unscathed no matter what they did. With a crackling shriek, it lashed once more; only this time it landed a blow. Weiss screamed in pain as she felt her left leg cut in two places; one just below her calf and one in the back of the thigh just above her knee; severing her muscles as she fell to and collapsed on the forest floor. As she held her leg in desperation to prevent the pain from shooting through her body, she couldn't help but feel the shock and horror creeping up her spine as the thought of a Grimm being strong enough to be able to damage someone enough to override their aura was an alien concept; yet here it was, a creature that did just that and to her own now useless leg at that.

"WEISS!" Ruby called out to the heiress before unleashing a barrage of bullets upon the beast in hopes of distracting it long enough to reach her. As it turned to her, she used her semblance to zip towards Weiss and tried to cover her with her own body as the creature returned it's attention to their current spot. Both girls flinched as it gave another crackling shriek and raised one of it's arms; ready to claim it's kills.

" **PERFECT CRITICAL COMBO!** "

As it turned to the noise, a vortex of gold and blue slammed into it's chest; sending it flying through several trees as the girls finally saw what was going on. "Wha... What was that?" Weiss asked in utter shock.

"Whatever it was..." Ruby started with a shake of her head, "It bought us some time to get help." Picking up the heiress bridal style, the silver-eyed girl started to run as fast as she could down the hill; unintentionally in the direction of Blake and Yang.

* * *

)-Moments Ago-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I ran towards the clearing where Ruby and Weiss were when the fires started in order to get a lay of the land and see where they went, but what I saw was cut down trees and broken branches all over the place. I had to act fast as my Speed Boost was running out but managed to spot one along with a Muscular power-up. Deciding that now was not the time to be looking a gifted horse in the mouth, I broke both power-ups in a single punch.

" **SPEEDING-UP!"**

" **MUSCULAR!"**

With my speed renewed and strength boosted, I followed the destruction in time to see something ready to strike Ruby who was trying to shield a downed Weiss with her own body - this thing was going to learn that NO ONE hurts the adorkable little biscuit while I'm around. Grabbing the GGD, I pulled it out just enough that it triggers the release confirmation but before it announced it's removal was when I immediately used my free hand to turn the dial to it's default position and back to Perfect Puzzle before slamming it back into the holster; all before it had a chance to call out Kimewaza.

" **DUAL GASHAT!** "

Blue energy once more formed around my foot as I ran towards the thing that was trying to kill the girls before I jumped as high as I could in a high-jump kick and began to spin like a top - no... like a drill burrowing into the ground.

" **PERFECT CRITICAL COMBO!** "

My speed and momentum allowed me to slam into the beast, whatever it was, while my strength boost pushed it back quite a few yards away...

How many trees just died from the collision, I will never know...

Eventually, all good things come to an end as both me and my new opponent slammed into the ground in an explosion of dirt, leaves and dust. Rolling off, I turned to try and get a good look at the monster that tried to hurt Ruby; and holy crap did I wish I didn't...

It looked like a mantis that got steroids shoved into it, hit by Rita Repulsa's Staffwand and then hit by a touch of necromantic magic just for kicks... 'What the hell kinda hole did this nightmare crawl out of?' I thought to myself before a rather... unpleasant thought crossed my mind that I DIDN'T want to see and made me have to force down an awkward blush. 'On second thought... I don't WANNA know.'

The Kamakiri*, as I'm calling it, got back up and fully recovered before flying straight at me in a blur of black and white; swiping at me with it's sickles as it closed in. With a hop, back-skip and a full on backflip, I managed to avoid it's initial attacks before it landed a blow and sent me flying into a tree; my health was showing a whole 25% taken by the damage. 'D-Damn... This thing hits like a train...' I summed up in my head but before I could think on a strategy, I noticed two things; the first was that my Speed Boost was almost over, and the second was a violet disc with the image of a Rider giving off a bright light; the Emission Power-Up! Jumping off the tree and unintentionally headbutting the Kamakiri, I flipped over the bug and crashed onto the ground before trying to race to the power-up, only to get swiped away and taking another 15% of health off me. 'Damnit!' I cursed my luck at the situation in front of me, 'If I could just reach it... Wait - I know; I can just summon it to me!'

Holding my hand out to the power-up, I willed it to move to me as I gripped the air and pulled toward me - causing the power-up to move with my hand, but the Kamakiri was having none of that as it effectively b*tchslapped me and made me send the power-up flying into a tree; shattered and destroyed. "D-Damnit!" I cursed loudly, seeing my health drop another 20%, "What's it going to take to beat you?!" My only answer was a crackling shriek as it flew at me once more, but this time I didn't have any speed-boost to keep up.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Third Person-(

* * *

Yang and Blake had only barely made it to the foot of the hill when they noticed a red flurry of rose petals flying towards them. Recognizing it as Ruby's semblance, Yang started to wave her little sister down and expected to see Weiss running behind her trying to catch up; what she saw, however, was the supposed Ice Queen in the arms of her partner clutching her left leg in pain which was bleeding badly in two spots. "Ruby, are you okay?" was the first thing Yang concerningly asked before continuing to assault her sister with another question, "What happened to her?"

Ruby shook her head, distraught at the situation before her, before replying, "I don't know..." She set Weiss gently on the ground for a moment and started to check on her leg, "But there was this giant Grimm that attacked us and it did this to her."

Yang looked skeptical but Blake's eyes went wide as if remembering something horrible. "Whadaya mean a Grimm did this to her?" Yang asked in disbelief, "No Grimm should be able to do that; and even if they did, her aura should be healing it up by now."

"I don't know, alright!?" Ruby screamed in frustration, "All I know is what I saw happened and we need to help stop the bleeding, otherwise..."

"Does anyone have a fire crystal?"

At this, everyone present looked at the raven haired faunus in confusion before Weiss replied, "I-In my p-Pouch..." Ruby immediately opened it up and dug her hand into the container before pulling out a bright red gem with an orange shine to it. "Here, Blake," she said as she handed it off to the girl who then moved to the heiress' injured leg.

"We'll need to cauterize the wounds," she started as she gripped the crystal in both hands, "Once that's done, she'll be able to heal on her own but will still need medical support." With this, she snapped the crystal in two; a crackling noise being made as she did this before turning to Weiss and warning her, "This is going to hurt a lot worse than the actual wound itself, but please, try to bear with it."

Weiss looked at the Faunus in disbelief before asking, "Why are you doing this? I mean, I'm a Schnee and my father's company has-"

"Done inhumane and politically unsavory things to the Faunus, but you, Weiss, have not personally done any of that," she retorted before continuing. "The worst I've seen you do was badmouth a girl whom you had flung fire dust at by shaking a bottle and blaming her for causing it to explode, and try to act like an ungrateful brat. But I know what it feels like to be abandoned by someone you trusted, and I will not allow anyone to feel that way if I can help it, even you. Afterall, the sins of the parents are not inherited by the children." She moved the gem shards near the injury on her calf before warning her to brace herself and bite onto something.

With that, Weiss merely grabbed Ruby's cloak, who tried to resist the action, and bit down on it after clumping it up just as Blake touched the two shards together to her injury. Screaming through the cloth as the burning pain shot through her body from her leg, Weiss couldn't help but think on what the Faunus girl had said. 'The sins of the parents... are not inherited by the children... Why is it, then... that I still feel guilty for what father has done?' As she closes up the wound, Blake told the heiress that she was moving on to the next one before the shards run out of energy. Immediatly so, she commits to the action and tries to, as quickly as possible, close up the wound with minimal pain... This failed if the muffled screams were anything to go by.

Once both wounds were closed up and cleaned, she gathered the now cooled down shards and placed them back into Weiss' pouch. "There... That will hold until we get you some real medical help, but we have to move now."

Yang was the first to speak up. "I say we get the hell out of here and back to Beacon - I don't care if we become huntresses or not right now." Weiss and Blake were in agreement, but Ruby, however, had other ideas.

"We have to find the temple." The others stared at her in disbelief, but, before any of them could complain to her about the idea, Ruby raised her hand to keep them at bay. "Now hold on and just hear me out. The temple shouldn't be too far away from here and it would be the most open spot I can think of away from the flames of the forest fire that we can send a signal from. If we do that and wait at the temple, someone is bound to find us there and help us back to Beacon."

As she finished her explanation, all three girls looked at her in bemusement before thinking on her words in their own ways. After a few seconds, it was Weiss who spoke up first. "Ruby," she started, "That is... actually a good idea." Yang looked at the heiress with an amused smirk on her face but Blake eyed her with curiosity and skepticism yet held her tongue as she wanted to hear what the girl had to say.

"Look, I know you don't even like me, but you have to at least turst me when I say it's our best bet to get some distance on that... thing... with the added bonus of at least some form of shelter." She turned to the red-hood wearing girl and nodded. "I say we go for the temple." That was all Blake needed as she gave a soft smile and nodded before turning to Yang who simply shrugged her shoulders. "If that thing's as dangerous as you two are saying, I'm not gonna be much good," Yang stated. "Besides, Blake and I were near the forest temple before she heard you two were in danger."

"Then... You mind leading the way?" Ruby asked, blushing in embarrassment.

Yang chuckled as she turned to her younger half-sibling. "What happened, Rubes? You got lost on the way here?"

"Yes..."

"Fine by me. Let's get going."

Ruby started to try and pick Weiss back up before she felt a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Oh no you don't," Yang stated in a warning tone, "You've done enough for a week carrying Ice Queen here as far as you did."

"Hey!" said Ice Queen replied.

"But-" Ruby tried to rebute her sister's words before Blake interrupted her.

"No, Ruby. I'll carry her. If what Yang is saying means anything, you should focus on resting up." Turning around and crouching, Blake began to carry Weiss piggyback as she started down the hill. Yang turned to her sister with a concerned smile before asking if she needed a lift.

"I'm fine, Yang... Just shaken up... Chewed up... and spat back out..."

"That doesn't sound fine, Rubes." Yang replied.

"I'm fine! I promise."

With that, Yang shrugged and said "Alright," before following to catch up with Blake as Ruby ran after her towards the temple.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I screamed in pain as I was sent flying once more into a tree before narrowly missing a bone blade that imbedded itself into the tree where I hit as I fell to the ground. Landing on one knee, I take a quick glance at my health to see it had dropped to 30% remaining. 'Damnit,' I cursed at myself, 'I don't think I'll last much longer.' I heard a snapping sound before running as fast as I could away from the Kamakiri before it swiped at my back, sending me rolling onto the ground before smacking me into the air; taking 20% of my health with it. As I was sent flying, I couldn't help but think that this would be the end; that this would be where I get a game over... Until I hit something in my flight - something I never expected to hit.

" **LIQUEFACTION!** "

My eyes went wide as I felt the familiar sensation of being melted into a puddle of goo as I landed in some bushes. 'The liquefaction power-up... Whatever merciful deity put that there...' I silently prayed, 'thank you so much!' I never thought in my life that I would be glad to be turned into a puddle. Looking around, I noticed the Kamakiri was now looking around trying to find me. I had to act fast if I were to fully take advantage of this opportunity. I scuttled a little ways further into the woods and looked around for any power-up that would help me end this thing once and for all but could only find the usual ones. That's when I found it; a silver disk with a picture of a Rider standing tall and flexing as if with a new surge of energy - the Recover Power-Up! With this, I can restore my health, but that won't be enough to even the odds; I needed a way to end this fight. The Liquefaction Power-Up wore off as I was looking for another power-up, but a loud buzzing startled me out of my thoughts; acting fast, I punched the silver disc and shattered it.

" **RECOVER!** "

I felt myself feeling rested and energized; as if I had slept for over 3 days and woke up in the best of moods. I looked at my health and noticed that, sure enough, it was now 100%. I didn't have long to react, however, as the buzzing was now really close before I rolled out behind a tree. It wasn't long before the Kamakiri came barrelling through and slicing down all the trees in it's path before zipping right past me. As I peeked around the tree I was behind, I noticed it was just going in a straight line; a line headed straight where Ruby and Weiss fled. 'Ah crapbaskets...' I cursed my luck at the situation, 'I need to keep that thing on me to keep them safe.'

"Hey you, Bug-eyed Freak; over here!" I taunted as I waved my arms and came out of my hiding spot; it turned around as it noticed me before flying straight at me with it's claws raised. "Yeah, I'm the one you're fighting!" I called out as I rolled away, just narrowly missing a pair of swipes aimed at my head; running as I recovered from the roll. Looking around, I spotted a small set of power-ups that I could easily run to - a Speeding-Up and another Recover if I needed that, but also one I hadn't seen as of yet; a magenta disc depicting two faded copies of a Rider splitting off of the original. That was it; my ticket outta this fight! I quickly rolled under yet another swipe and made a beeline for the power-up - barely reaching it in time as another swipe from above had come to claim my head where it was moments ago as I punched the disc.

" **SEPARATION!** "

I felt my body go numb before a sensation of being split open without the pain washed over me. I looked to my left and right and find a copy of myself on each end looking to their left and right as I did before another set of copies formed next to them; and then another formed, and then another. Now there were nine copies of me standing there facing the Kamakiri which was staring in confusion and... dare I say fright? With this, I smirked at the monster and pulled the GGD completely out of the holster - what I didn't expect was the noise this would cause...

" **GASHOON!** "

That's right - all nine copies of the GGD made the confirmation announcement at once... Whoo god, it was loud... Holding the GGD close to my chest, I turned back to the Kamakiri that was now ready for another round; too bad it wouldn't see that. "Alright, it's time to finish this!" all nine of me shouted as we turned the dials on our GGDs to the default position and then back to Perfect Puzzle.

" **KIMEWAZA!** "

The familiar standby noise started playing out, but nine times louder now as we holstered our GGDs.

" **DUAL GASHAT!** "

With that announcement, blue energy surrounded our legs as we got into a crouching stance.

" **PERFECT CRITICAL COMBO!** "

"Eat this!" we cried out as we ran to the Kamakiri as it charged us, but before we clashed, we jumped into the air and thrusted our glowing feet out in a flying kick shouting "Kyu Rensa Kikku!*" With that, all nine attacks landed on the monsterous Grimm's thorax which shattered under the pressure; causing all nine of us to crash into the ground and merging back into one as the power of the Separation power-up was drained by the finisher. As I became one again, the Grimm exploded into the black mist that was its essence as I stood up and absorbed it.

" **All Clear!** "

I looked to my level and EXP bar to see the bar was climbing as the essence was absorbed. Eventually, it filled up and my level became 15 but it didn't stop; it continued until it had filled up again with my level becoming 16 and still continued to do so until it finally stopped at 4% into level 17; at which point it played the Game Clear music followed by the familiar leveling up announcement.

" **LEVEL UP!** "

With that, I pumped my fists into each other cheered, "Woo yeah! Level 17 baby! Now I just gotta find the girls..." Just as I had said that, I noticed a flare shooting up from the northern end of the forest and my eyes went wide as I remembered Weiss having to be carried by Ruby away from here. "Crap, that's not a good si-" I started before a growl interrupted me. "Damnit," I cursed as an Ursa Major lumbered out at me, "I don't have time for this..." I removed the GGD and turned the dial to Knockout Fighter before pressing the button with a cry of "Dai Henshin!" before the confirmation announcement could play.

" **DUAL UP!** "

" **EXPLOSION HIT! KNOCKOUT FIGHTER!** "

With that confirmation, my pauldrons shifted to my forearms as I placed the GGD back into the holster and cocked a fist back; unleashing a quick jab into the Ursa's abdomen which punctured it and disintegrated it into the black mist that formed it's essence. I didn't bother seeing if my level increased, however, as I was looking towards the flare in contemplation. "Just hang on... I'm on my way..." I said to myself before running up to and punching the Speed Boost power-up.

" **SPEEDING-UP!** "

With the power-up now active, I made a mad dash through the clearing the Kamakiri had made to where the flare had come from. Whatever was going on down there...

I just hope I'm not too late...

* * *

xXx

* * *

And here is the newest addition to the Paradox of Remnant story! Hope you all enjoyed it. And keep an eye out for the next chapter to hit soon.

Kamakiri = literally Mantis

Kyu Rensa Kikku = roughly 9 Chain Kick


	5. Pilot part IV

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! Hopefully THIS will be the end of the Pilot arc and I can actually end the Initiation with this chapter. And before we get started on that, let's begin the questions.

Eternal Lancer, it will not be in the immediate future, but it IS planned for him to turn into Perfect Knockout. Just not yet, anyway.

Xivitai, I'm not so sure about the GGD Beta as it will be an awful time for me to pick a form for each game and then try to write down what they look like; I mean hell, I had to google up what RUBY looked like in text form just so I could write it up. So yeah, my prognosis is I highly doubt that will appearing.

God of Crossover, this chapter, boi. XD

Hero King Gilgamesh, I'm happy to say he will be the host of not one, but two bugsters. Sadly, neither one will be able to become Kamen Riders due to um... extenuating circumstances.

Derp, I've been throwing ideas around but ultimately decided that there will be no shipping in this story for the forseeable future...

The Mind Master, only Para-DX can use/activate them but more than just him can be the target of Power-Ups that require one such as Shrink or Emission. Yes, he will be able to do so at some point in time, but right now he has no idea how to play Perfect Puzzle itself so he cannot control them so easily if at all; a similar ordeal is going on with Knock-Out Fighter. Cannon Gashats are up in the air at the moment, however I will say that they will be used AS intended rather than by Para-DX as extra weapons IF I add them.

And finally, a comment to reply to that I think everyone should take note of...

Epion Legium, we are talking about a world where exists people that can hit in the force range of megatonnes; not tons, not kilotonnes, MEGAtonnes; a few to name would be Yang Xiao Long, Adam Taurus, Nora Valkyrie and even Ruby Rose herself. If anything can survive megaton levels of force, then a few tons should be easy to deal with. And I'm sorry for the Power-Up placements as I am trying to keep the story within a word count per chapter range.

With that out of the way, it's time to begin the next chapter! I own nothing but the OC used.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

 **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** \- Specials

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

It took a few minutes, but the girls managed to reach what appeared to be the ruins of a rather simple rotunda with three of the columns broken and lying around the area in pieces. Five of the stone columns that held up a circle of stones were still standing as well. The floor of the structure beared a rather intricate symmetrical design. Around the floor were 22 stone pedestals; some with a large chess piece on top with a duplicate of each piece that weren't missing.

Yang pointed at the temple and called out to the others, "See? Told ya we were close!" Blake looked around and noticed the missing artifacts from the pedestals before pointing this out, "And it looks like we're not the first to get here... We may have to try our luck at running back to Beacon Cliff if all else fails."

"Yeah, that's going to be a problem, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it..." At this response from her partner, Blake shook her head dismissively before setting Weiss down near the steps of the temple. "Now try not to move that leg too much, okay?" the faunus girl said to her pseudo patient who harumphed lightly as she crossed her arms.

"I'm not dying..." was her retort before her face scrunched a little in disgust, "Well... I won't be thanks to you and Ruby."

Blake had to hold back a smile as she knew they were still in danger. "I'm not trying to sound ungrateful but we're not out of this yet," she warned the white-haired girl, "So don't go thanking us just yet." The heiress nodded her acceptance of this reason before Blake continued. "First thing's first, though, we need to find out what you were up against and prepare ourselves for it..."

"Well..." Weiss hesitantly started, "it was... well, for lack of a better term, massive... And it looked like an insect of some kind... Not one from Atlas, otherwise I would have been able to identify it right away -"

"It was a mantis with two blades on it's arms instead of one!" Ruby said as she fiddled with some of her ammunition along with a shell or two from Yang's personal arsenal. At this, Blake's eyes widened in fear as if realizing what they were up against; though her reaction was initially ignored by all present as Weiss addressed the weapons dork quickly. "Is that what it was?" she asked, "I thought it was an assassin bug for a moment, or some sort of mosquito-based insect."

Ruby didn't even look away from her objective as she continued to fiddle with the dust used in the shells and replied, "Nope, definitely a mantis; even Yang can spot one of those a mile away."

"Not true, Rubes..." Yang quickly retorted. "Only HALF a mile away because normally those things are tiny."

"We're not safe here..."

Yang and Weiss looked to their raven-haired companion in curiosity while Ruby ignored her as she continued. "That thing... It's more dangerous than it looks; it took out an entire cargo train by itself and nearly managed to kill everyone on it; the hunters stationed there included."

Before anyone could ask what she meant, Ruby shouted out in triumphant victory as she jumped up, "DONE! Now let's shoot these things off." She loaded the clip into the barrel of her weapon in rifle mode as she aimed straight up and fired; sending a fireball half the size of the rotunda straight into the sky at high speeds. "If THAT doesn't get anyone's attention, nothing will."

Weiss looked at Ruby in disbelief at the monstrous flare she created while Blake was still lost in her thoughts. It was only Yang who broke the silence as she asked, "Remind me again why you had to be the one to shoot out the flare?"

Ruby simply smirked before turning to her half-sister to reply. "Because despite their long range, Ember Celica still lacks the necessary speed to reach the right altitude for the flare to be seen at all; let alone someone who can help." That seemed to be enough as Yang shrugged her shoulders before heading to the artifacts. "Still, if we're gonna be stuck here for a while we may as well grab our artifacts while we're here..." Ruby's realization on the subject was an 'Oh' face as she followed the Blonde to the artifacts.

Picking up a golden Knight piece, Yang held it up for Blake to see and called out to her, "Hey, Blake! How 'bout a cute lil' pony?" Blake finally shook her thoughts free as she looked to her partner and nodded absently. This got Yang concerned as she walked back over to the raven-haired faunus while Ruby quickly nabbed the other golden Knight piece and ran back with her. "Blake? You okay there, kitty kat?" she asked her partner in concern.

Blake tried to reply before shouting and commotion brought their attention away from their current conversation. That commotion being a girl with short orange hair and turquoise eyes wearing a collared black vest that ends at her waist, a white sleeveless top that forms a tiny heart shape just below her collarbone, a white detached sleeve on each arm, matching fingerless gloves on each hand, and a pink skirt that starts at the waist and ends mid-thigh rolling towards them with a cloud of dust coming up to catch her as she finally stopped.

* * *

)-Moments Earlier-(

* * *

Nora Valkyrie was your average, high energy, and spunky girl with a zest for life that would make just about anyone smile if one could look past her rather unusual tendencies, but if there was one thing no one would truly know her as if they didn't understand her it would be observant; when it came to Lie Ren, she had to be in order to tell what was going on with him when he was feeling down and wouldn't tell her about it. Not that she would openly admit she was THAT worried for him, mind you.

But that observant talent would come in handy as she noticed some of the leaves glowing a light orange despite it still being mid-day. She turned to her partner and longtime friend, Lie Ren; a male teenager with long black hair tied into a ponytail that ends midway down his back, a magenta streak on the left side of his hair, and eyes that matched said streak wearing a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that is red on the inside, with black and gold trimming that goes down the right side of his torso and forms a black collar, and pink cuffs; and grabbed his sleeve to get his attention. "You see that, Ren?" she asked as she pointed to the leaves, "Did someone start a fire or turn on a heat lamp somewhere?" As she said this, the young man looked around and found the source; a rather large flare in the sky resembling a fireball.

"A flare? Someone must be in trouble if they shot that." he deduced before concluding his thoughts, "But the professors said they wouldn't interfere with the initiation... so why send one out unless it was a warning to stay away?"

"Nope. Not gonna happen. We're going to help them."

Giving no time for Ren to reply, Nora simply unclipped her weapon, Magnhild, and changed it into it's hammer form before slammingthe head into the ground and placing a foot on it. She didn't get another step on it, however, as her friend and partner gently placed his hand on her shoulder. "Nora... what have I told you about riding Magnhild like that?" he asked her in a slightly condescending tone.

"... Not to ride it unless it was an emergency..." she replied in an exaggeratedly tired tone.

"And is this an emergency?"

Nora did her best to open her eyes wide and pout her lips as she tried to do her puppy dog eyes on Ren before replying, "Yes?"

Ren simply smiled softly before shaking his head and taking his hand off her shoulder. "Then go ahead, but don't go too fast; okay?" he warned her. This was ignored, however, as Nora had a grin plastered on her face as she stepped her grounded foot onto the hilt of Magnhild with her free hand saluting and the hand holding Magnhild to pull the trigger; sending her skyrocketing through the woods with Ren hot on her heels. This contininued until she made one very, VERY, big miscalculation...

Trees. Have. Branches.

"Uh oh," was her only words of regret as the head of her weapon and sending her flipping through the woods before landing on solid ground and rolling to a stop. Coughing to clear her throat of the dust cloud that surrounded her, she stood up and patted her clothes to get any dust and debris off them before looking around to see 4 fellow girls at the temple. "Hi!" she greeted them cheerfully at them. As she looked around, she heard Ren's voice panting as he said, "Nora... Don't ever do that again..."

Lo and behold, the girl had already left once everyone's attention shifted to the young man. Turning to the relics, the found said girl picking up one of the pieces, a golden Rook, and places it on her head, but before she could do anything else, Ren calls out to her. "Nora! This isn't the time to play around, we have someone seriously injured here."

Nora's eyes widen in shock before dropping the Rook piece; which fell on her foot and bounced into her hand, as she ran to her friend's side to see what happened; when she did, her entire body almost seemed to gray out as she spotted the bloodied and wounded leg of Weiss Schnee. "What... Happened?" she asked trying to keep herself calm; a storm of emotions going through her with the most prominent being fear and anger.

"A Grimm managed to do this..." the raven-haired faunus said as she started to explain, "Ruby and Weiss had an encounter with a dangerous Grimm that can somehow overpower one's aura and injure it's victims in such a way that their aura cannot heal them on it's own... I've seen it once before I came to Beacon..."

Shock filled Nora's body as she stared at Blake dumbfoundedly before turning back to Weiss before turning to Ren who's attention up until now was on the heiress' leg as he inspected it. "Well, the damage is severe but it was disinfected quickly enough so that should buy her some time..." he surmized as he pulled some bandages out of his pocket and started to wrap Weiss' leg, "Don't worry, we'll stay and help as much as we can." Nora nodded absentmindedly before shaking her head and putting on a strong front behind a smile. "Yeah!" she cheered, "We're not gonna get split up as long as that thing's around - does anyone else hear screaming?"

It was right at that point that they heard a faintly growing scream of someone before a red and white blur was sent barreling into one of the trees. With a loud thunk and the rustling of leaves, the figure fell out of the tree hard; revealing themselves as a tall teenage boy with dark-blue eyes, short blonde hair messily layered on his head with the right side of his hair nearing his right eye and the left side swept back, wearing a white diamond-shaped chestplate cut off above his lower abdomen and white spaulders with rerebraces set under them, a black short-sleeved hoodie with detached reddish-orange sleeves, blue pants with a white patch on the left knee, and black sneakers; the sound of the impact he made caused everyone present to cringe and inwardly draw breath.

"Oooh... That's gotta hurt..." pointed out Yang as Blake simply asked, "Did that guy just fall from the sky?" Nora shook her head before replying, "Nope, I think he was launched from a catapult," as she made a popping sound while pronouncing the 'p' in 'nope'. Ruby immediately zipped over to him after recognizing the figure to check up on him. "Jaune!? Are you okay?" she asked in concern. Her reply from him was a grunt as the boy simply put a thumbs up from his facedown position in the dirt before his hand slapped the ground.

"Well, vomit boy's alright," Yang declared before continuing, "Now let's try to get outta here before something ELSE crazy happens." Yang had unintentionally invoked Murphey's Law with that declaration. Just as that had happened, they heard a roar in the distance where Jaune had came from.

A girl with red hair in a waist-length ponytail and vivid green eyes wearing a light-brown, strapless top split divided vertically with some bronze patterns; a low bronze V-neck; an elastic, black, A-line miniskirt with a red ankle-length drapery that wrapped around it; and and brown opera-length gloves on both arms with a bronze bracer on the left; elaborate bronze greaves that start below her mid-thigh, continuing downwards into her boots and a pair of cuisses that begin mid-thigh and end slightly above her knees; was racing from the forest roughly in the same direction Jaune went flying. She wasn't running to him, though; to be more precise, she was running away from something. On her tail, crashing through the trees as it gave chase, was a large Scorpion-like Grimm with a jet-black exoskeleton underneath several white, bonelike plates upon its back, which are adorned with red markings.

"Did that girl just run all the way here with a Deathstalker on her tail?" Blake asked in disbelief. Before anyone could reply, though, the girl was sent flying by a swat of the Deathstalker's claw and crashed to the ground near herself and Weiss as Blake went to check on the girl. "Great, the gang's all here!" Yang exclaimed sarcastically, "Now we can die together!"

"Not if I can help it..." Ruby whispered to herself before dashing straight for the Deathstalker and unclipping her weapon as it transformed into it's scythe mode. "Ruby, wait!" Yang called out to her sister, only to be stopped by Ren putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Hold on, we've got more company," he said as he pointed to the sky. It was too far away to make out all the details, but the silhouette was unmistakably a very large Nevermore. "That's... not good..." Blake looked at the Nevermore, but Yang pulled her shoulder free and ran for Ruby who... well...

Let's just say she wasn't fairing very well against the Deathstalker.

When she first reached it, she fired a shot behind her and used the recoil to try and land a hit on the scorpion creature, only to be smacked away by it's claw. She then tried to use her Semblance to try and get behind it, only to realize she had worn herself out fighting the mantis Grimm from earlier; so she changed strategies and fired a few rounds at the creature's eyes which it blocked with it's claws before using it's tail for a long range attack that the young girl narrowly avoided by shooting a recoil shot to send her backwards. With that, she started running as fast as her legs could carry her before hearing a roar that almost sounded like a raven's call. Looking up behind her, Ruby could see a giant raven-like Grimm with two finger-like clawed appendages at the joints of the wing and a white mask with red markings covering the top of it's head with four orange eyes that faded to red staring at her. The Grimm stalled itself in the air before clapping it's wings together, sending a volley of feathers that rained down on Ruby; all but one missing the girl and blocking off Yang's route to her, with the one nailing her cloak and pinning her to the ground.

"Ruby!" Yang called out, "Get outta there!" Clawing desperately at her cloak in a vain attempt at pulling it free, Ruby called back out to Yang, "I'm trying!" If there was ever a case where she regretted sewing her cloak onto her top, this would be it. She could only tug at her cloak as she saw the Deathstalker approach with it's tail poised to strike.

"RUBY!" she shouted as she tried to reach for her sister, only to see a golden blur zip up to the Deathstalker

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I ran.

For how long, I'm not sure, but I ran for as long as I could; even after my Speed Boost wore off. Whatever was going on, I had to hurry and make it to them. I just had to.

I'm not stupid, though, I know I cannot save everyone; but would it be any worse than if I never even tried? I cannot save everyone, but if I really have messed up history as badly as I think I did then it's my duty to take responsibility for it; to protect this new timeline and this new world... To become Remnant's Kamen Rider.

I passed up a Speeding-Up disc as I came up to a clearing that gave me a good view of where the flare had come from. In it, I saw dilapidated ruins that held 6 teenagers my age or older with one of them, a white haired girl I could recognize as Weiss; even from this distance, lying on the ground. I looked around and saw the Deathstalker slamming a black and red body into the ground with it's claw and a head of yellow hair trying to catch up to her. Then it happened; the sky rained down large, black feathers that pinned Ruby to the ground and cut Yang off from her. Seeing the Deathstalker crawling up to Ruby left me no choice but to personally intervene as I punched the disc and dashed straight for the Deathstalker. With a battlecry of "IKUZE*!", I cocked back a fist and prepared for the worst...

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

This was it; the end of her career as a huntress-in-training; the end of her life; the end of Ruby Rose... As the young girl clenched her eyes shut in lieu of the impending fatal blow, she heard something.

"IKUZE!"

Following the shout was a sound almost like glass breaking. She thought she had been hit, and the sound was her ribcage shattering; but instead of pain, she felt... nothing.

She opened her eyes wide and looked to the Deathstalker to see what had happend as time for her seemed to slow down; what she saw was something out of a child's story book.

Standing in front of her, with their fist extended as if they had just punched something, was a tall figure wearing a strange suit; the suit itself was primarily black with white in the torso and crotch regions and a golden dial or knob or something on their back, she couldn't tell what it was; their hands were encased in huge almost pauldron-like boxing gloves that were red on one side with flames going up the edges and blue and gold on the other with golden armor pieces along the feet and legs as well as a golden belt. The figure's head, however, drew her attention the most as the back had a blue head with what appeared to be a large, blue triangle running down the middle of it like a lock of hair; a pair of black goggles where eyes would be; and a gold, turtle-neck collar that took up a good third of the figure's back face. The figure's front face, however, was just as odd with red, spiky hair that jutted out to the right side; eyebrows that extended past the headband; and the eyes, though primarily yellow, held what appeared to be circles to represent the iris with white pupils. Through it all; the golden, red and blue parts of the suit all held a metallic sheen to them, almost glistening in the sunlight. Around the figure's fist were the shards of the Deathstalker's now destroyed stinger. As she regained her senses, she noticed the figure staring down the Deathstalker as it crawled back screeching in agony.

Whoever this person is; they had saved her life.

"Head's up!"

Nevermind, this person was trying to kill her! She ducked under the back-handed swing just in time to see it shatter the arrow that had pinned her cloak down. As she moved away, she noticed that her cloak was free and that she could stand up fully because of it. Her sister, now free of her own imprisonment, ran up to her and squeezed her hard in a hug; elicting a yelp out of the poor girl.

"I'm so happy you're okay!" Yang exclaimed as she pulled away from the hug, but then looked to the stranger who oddly enough was a whole head taller than her, "And thank you SO much for saving my lil' sis."

"We're not out of this, yet; the thing's still alive and that one up there's circling back for round two," the stranger replied, though how anyone would have been able to talk in that helm, let alone be heard so clearly as if they weren't wearing it, was anyone's guess. Jaune simply looked on in mortified horror as he asked what they were gonna do.

"Just leave them both to me."

"No offense," Weiss started, "but you don't seem to be equipped to handle an airborne target." The stranger simply scoffed at her words before replying, "Not in this form, I ain't; but I'll worry about it later. Right now, I've got some scorpion stew to make." With this, he pounded his gauntlet-covered fists together, creating a ringing clang sound that reverberated throughout the area. The Deathstalker took this as a warning rather than a challenge and tried to scuttle away but was chased down by the stranger. "Oh no you don't!" he, as his voice was more on the masculine side, yet could still easily be confused as a woman if one wasn't careful, called out before landing a downward punch onto the dead center of the Deathstalker's raised claws; thus shattering both of them into black mist.

"Holy crap -" Yang started before her sister interrupted her and called her out on swearing, "He's got some strength, huh?"

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

'Alright!' I celebrated in my thoughts, 'With it's claws and stinger removed, this Deathstalker is nothing more than a meal on legs. Now to finish the job.' I gripped what was left of it's arm and twisted my body so that I could fling the Grimm over my back and onto it's own back. With that done, I jumped on top of it's underside before grabbing the GGD and barely pulling it out enough to turn the dial back to it's default position and then into Knock-Out Fighter before slamming it back down without it calling out Kimewaza once again.

" **DUAL GASHAT! KNOCK-OUT CRITICAL SMASH!** "

I slammed my fists together as crimson energy flickered across them before raising them as high as I could and slamming them back down onto the Deathstalker's vulnerable underside; disintegrating it in the instant it hit in an explosion of black mist which seeped into my chestplate.

" **K.O.!** "

As the essence was absorbed, I looked at my level and EXP to see that the bar was filling up not once, but twice, as I hit Level 19 and then Level 20 with only 2% of the EXP required for Level 21. The level up announcement played along with the familiar tune though I was in no mood to cheer just yet; there was still the Nevermore afterall. Turning towards the sky, I looked around to see if there were any power-ups around, though sadly there were none nearby, so I had to make do... And by that, I mean I had to change forms. With that, I removed the GGD and began my preparations as I turned it to it's default position

" **GASHOON!"**

With one more twist, my target form was set.

" **PERFECT PUZZLE! What's the next stage?** "

As the title screen appeared behind me, the all too familiar discs showed up and scattered across the field before I pressed the buttons on the GGD with a quick call of "Dai Henshin!".

" **DUAL UP! GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Everyone present could only stare in wide-eyed awe as they had witnessed a single person literally disintegrate a Deathstalker; with his own hands. Their awe turned into fear as they saw what was effectively the remains of the body be absorbed by this stranger in armor. Finally, their fear turned into horror as his head suddenly turned a sharp 180 degrees. Only two mouths remained silent during this event; the mouths of a certain raven-haired faunus girl and a normally calm and collected black-and-pink haired guy. Two, however, were more animated in their fears as one of the girls screaming was actually Jaune who suddenly felt the weight of someone jumping into his arms.

That someone was a terrified, and grayed out, Nora Valkyrie, who had made a grab for the nearest warm body; normally, that would be Ren, but this time it was an unfortunate white-knight-wannabe. They only stood still for a moment before they felt something... off...

"Uh, guys...?" Jaune said to get everyone's attention. "I um... I think I wet myself..."

Nora simply shook her head as if to disagree yet didn't take her eyes off the stranger. "Nope. I think it was me..."

Jaune merely looked down between their bodies and nods lightly before turning back to her. "I-It was both of us..."

At this, Yang's aura flared to live as her normally violet eyes turned red in her rage; her shout causing both of them to flinch and Nora to jump out of Jaune's arms. "TMI, YOU TWO!"

Blake's mind, however, was on this stranger and whether or not he was even human or faunus at all. Eventually, that lead to her thoughts of Yang's bet earlier on and that she may have had a point in thinking the way she did.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

'Okay, now that I'm in my Puzzle Gamer form,' I thought to myself, 'How best can I reach Big Bird up there? Hmmm...' I looked around until I saw a few power-ups that would serve the purpose I needed quite well. 'Okay, so there's a Stretch over there, but I need some speed to go along with that to even catch it... Then there's the matter of what to do when I do so I guess some firepower would-oh nice; a Muscular. Okay... let's do this!'

With that in mind, I extended a hand to call on the furthest power-up from me; the Stretch power-up, and focused only on it. Eventually, though, it does float to me where I punched straight through it as it arrived.

" **STRETCH!** "

With that active, I extended my arms out and punched both the Muscular and the Speeding-Up discs to activate them.

" **MUSCULAR!** "

" **SPEEDING-UP!** "

And now that I had what I needed, it was time to finish the fight once and for all. I reached to the GGD and pulled it out before putting the dial into it's default state and then back to Perfect Puzzle; practically slamming it back into it's holster before it could call out "Kimewaza".

" **DUAL GASHAT!** "

With that, blue and gold energy surrounded my entire right leg rather than just my foot as I got into a relaxed kicking stance.

" **PERFECT CRITICAL COMBO!** "

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Ruby's eyes widened in recognition as did Weiss' from earlier in the forest against that mantis Grimm. They had heard that declaration before; that meant this must have been the very same person that helped them escape. Ruby looked back at her injured partner who nodded as she thought, 'I guess now we know who we owe our lives to for earlier...'

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

* * *

A Bullhead was seen flying over the Emerald Forest heading straight for the temple; on board were Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch. Glynda herself was flying the airship as she checked on the navigations console before announcing that they would be arriving momentarily. However, as she looked back out ahead, she and Ozpin got a sight to behold; something long and very skinny had shot up into the sky, covered in blue and yellow flame-like aura, before swatting what appeared to be a Nevermore to the ground at a pace much faster than something that large should move.

"Professor... Did you see that?" Glynda asked Ozpin.

"Quite frankly... I wish I hadn't..." Ozpin replied before continuing, "We may need to break into Qrow's stores when this is over..."

Glynda merely nodded as she continued to fly to the temple; the very place where the... 'thing' came from.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

In what I assumed at the time to be the dumbest idea ever, I threw my leg upward as if to bring it down for an axe kick but saw that it was extending all the way into the clouds; high enough that I could hit the Nevermore and fast enough that it won't be able to dodge. With that, I brought my leg down and, in a chain reaction, nailed the Nevermore on it's back; bringing it all the way down to ground level but still alive. With the time I had left on the power-ups, I retracted my leg and extended my arms to grab it by the wings and pushed down on it as I dragged it to me. Once in range, I retracted my arms once again before pulling the GGD out completely this time.

" **GASHOON!** "

"Alright, Bird Brain... Let's finish this," I taunted as I turned the dial to it's default position and then back to Perfect Puzzle.

" **KIMEWAZA!** "

With the announcement and standby noise playing out, I replaced the GGD into it's holster and got into a light fighting stance.

" **DUAL GASHAT! PERFECT CRITICAL COMBO!** "

The blue and gold energy covered my leg once more as the Nevermore was just now recovering and clearly in a panic as it started to flap it's wings rapidly in an attempt to get airborne; it wouldn't get the chance.

With a roundhouse kick, I knocked the Grimm over onto it's side before unleashing a flurry of blue and gold kicks onto it; hitting it in multiple different parts of it's body before finally ending with another axe kick onto it's neck, thus severing it's head from the body as I cried out, "Shuuen no Ichigeki*!" In a burst of black mist that followed my leg as it retracted back to my body, the Nevermore exploded and was absorbed into my suit.

" **All Clear!** "

I looked at my level thinking I wouldn't be hitting past twenty once all that essence got absorbed, but to my surprised it climbed all the way to Level 21 with 80% left until Level 22. As the level up announcement played, I sighed in relief before turning back to the others...

Who were just staring at me... Like I'm some kind of monster or freak show...

'Uh oh...' I thought to myself, 'Lucy, you've got some 'splainin' to do...'

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Glynda had barely managed to land the Bullhead near the temple when the onslaught came upon the Nevermore; never before had she seen a Grimm dispatched so handidly, especially one that size. Ozpin, however, had other things on his mind as he simply hopped out of the Bullhead. "Is everyone here alright?" he asked.

None of the students had even heard the Bullhead come in and land and almost none of them heard him address them except for Ruby who broke from her trance and ran up to the Headmaster.

"Professor Ozpin, Weiss was hurt by a Grimm attack," she all but blurted, "Her aura was up and everything and it just - it..." She motioned to the young girl laying on the ground. "LOOK!"

He looked at the leg from afar and nodded his head slightly before turning to Ruby. "It seems, Ms. Rose, that you and Ms. Schnee were attacked by a rogue Grimm that had went missing a few days prior; one that had been responsible for a near massacre," he began to say before closing his eyes, " To say that I'm surprised that both of you are still living and only one of you is walking out of here with nothing but a scar while the other is nearly unscathed would be an understatement... You are both to come with me and Professor Goodwitch immediately.

Hearing this snapped Yang out of her thoughts and her voice caused a chain reaction that drew everyone's attention from the stranger. "Hey now hold on! I thought you said 'the teachers weren't going to get involved'? Isn't this exactly what you weren't going to do?"

Glynda glared at the hot-headed blonde before answering her question as curtly as possible, "While that WAS the intention, Ms. Xiao Long, I'm afraid certain circumstances made it too dangerous to leave the students completely unsupervised; that Grimm Professor Ozpin mentioned was only part of the reason we came out here."

"The other happens to be your... saviour I suppose..." came the quick reply of the Headmaster as he looked at the stranger.

"Now then... I don't suppose YOU would be willing to come peacefully and tell us your name, would you?"

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

Crap... Here it is... The Crescendo of all my mess-ups...

I had contemplated just running away but then they would cordon off the entire forest just to find me... Then I remembered Oum's Naming Rule and decided, 'If he wants a name, I'll give him one... just not my real one...'

With that, I turned to him and grabbed the GGD and turned the dial to the default position. "In this form, you may call me Kamen Rider Para-DX... But..." I introduced myself before hitting the button to turn the suit off and return me to my normal, human form. "In this form... you may call me..."

"Dichro Spectrum."

* * *

xXx

* * *

And there it is; the final chapter of the Pilot arc! This was annoying as hell as well as a LOT of fun to do; I had originally planned on just piling all of this into the previous chapter, but decided against that and so far - I'm happy with it.

Let me know if you like it and until next time...

See you next game!

Ikuze! = roughly "Let's go!"

Shuuen no Ichigeki! = "End of the Line!"


	6. Tales We Weave

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

I'm so glad that the last chapter was so successful despite how rushed it was. I'd also like to give a BIG shout-out to Swift56 and Timeless Dreamer Neo for all the support and help they've given me in making this story. That being said, there was some confusion going around so I'll clear the air before I move on to questions.

"Lucy, you've got some 'splainin' to do!" is a reference to an old 50's tv show called "I Love Lucy" where the main character, Lucy, usually did something that messes up everyone's day and the husband calls her out on it by saying "Alright, 'splain'" or something similar; though the actual quote never came from the show. Lucy is not Dichro's actual name. Speaking of Dichro, the color theme behind it is that Dichro is short for dichromatic which means representing or having two colors. Ergo, his alias helps blend in with everyone around him.

Now that we have all of that cleared up, let's start on the questions.

The Mind Master, Dichro WILL have a Semblance of his own but he needs to have his aura unlocked first. He WILL be getting a weapon that he can use outside of his Kamen Rider forms as well, but giving him the Gashacon Bugvisor is too dangerous; the Parabragun is going to be his weapon as Perfect Knock-out - I am not changing that for anything. As for leveling up, he will have a difficult time as he will be cut off from all Grimm so his leveling will be... halted... to some extent.

Tobi, I am not ENTIRELY sure what the Puzzle Barrier is; I tried looking it up and couldn't find it... If you mean the puzzle piece shield then that will come much later as he's still not able to figure out how to actually play the games. Also, level 55 will be the absolute max he will go in either form though level 50 will be the absolute minimum he needs to become Perfect Knock-out. I'm throwing around ideas about the Gashats but nothing is set in stone. As for averting cannon... Well, you have to remember he's already done that so there's no going back anymore.

Raidentensho... Unfortunately I am STILL up in the air with other Kamen Riders being brought into the story save for those from Ex-Aid, and even then I'm still trying to throw ideas around. As for the recover power-up... Well that would solve things a little TOO easily, now wouldn't it? XD

Ride player hary, they can TRY to use it but, with Dichro guarding it 24/7, they won't get the chance; and no he won't act like that psycho, but he will gain some rather silly quirks. As for the bugsters, that's too far ahead to worry about for now.

And with the questions done and out of the way, it's time to start a new chapter in the story of The Paradox of Remnant! I own nothing but Dichro and his alias.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

With everything that had been going on, one would have assumed that having such a name would have been... 'normal'... But if one were to ask a certain headmaster at Beacon, his reply would have been that the name was 'too' normal to be coincidental. 'What are you playing at, Mr. Spectrum...?' the stoic professor asked in his thoughts as he continued to eye the stranger up and down. His clothes looked to be roughly worn as if he had spent the last few days in the forest and his body had slight scratches on it reminiscent of those found when someone without aura tried to forage or harvest plants; that meant this 'child' wasn't even a hunter-in-training. His hair also twitched every second or so despite there not being any wind; an odd trait for someone, even a faunus. Then came the matter of how he had single handedly dispatched that Nevermore; a rather large one at that. If he had no aura, then it wouldn't be his semblance he used. Last to note was his size... or in the poor boy's case...

A lack thereof...

Though he had a slightly muscular frame, his diminuitive stature more than made up as it's own weakness. If one had to guess, the aforementioned 'Dichro' would only be up to Yang's torso. He would have been easy bait for the Grimm had he remained in his humanoid form...

"Dichro... Spectrum..." Ozpin stated slowly as he nodded but before he could speak up, Yang interrupted him. "Wow, you are REALLY short!" she teased as she walked up to him.

"HEY! I AM NOT SHORT! EVERYONE ELSE IS JUST TOO DAMN TALL!"

"Hey, now; calm down..." she said calmly, despite flinching at his yelling. "Besides, you look cuter when you're small enough to put on my lap." Dichro simply harumphed as he crossed his arms and looked away with his cheeks puffed out. 'Well jeez, I thought only Ice Queen did that,' Yang thought to herself, 'Must be a hot head thing...'

"You know what they say - hehehe- BIG things come in TINY packages! Hehehehe!" Nora giggled out. This prompted both parties to blush scarlet they glared at the pink-loving hammer wielder until a cough from the headmaster caught their attention.

"Very well, you are to come with us as well." Dichro tilted his head before asking sarcastically, "So I take it this is the part where you tell me I have the right to remain silent?"

"You are 'not' under arrest, Mr. Spectrum..." Glynda answered before giving him a stern glare and continuing, "You ARE, however, an unknown factor that needs to be removed." At this, Dichro threw his hands up at them, shaking his open palms as if in a mocking tone as he called out, "Oh HELL no, you ain't gonna kill me!" His reaction prompted a literal facepalm from Weiss before she said, "You idiot! She means you need to leave the Emerald Forest."

"Oh..." was his only reply before turning to Glynda once more. "Well why didn't you say that in the first place?! Let's go." He walked up to the Bullhead before a riding crop stopped him. Glynda merely looked at Weiss before Dichro slapped his forehead. "Oh, right; Elsa over there's still injured."

"Elsa?" Weiss repeated in confusion before asking, "What kind of name is that?"

"The name of a literal queen of ice, though nowhere near as 'cold' a personality as you." Dichro answered as he smirked. Poor Yang was snickering her head off trying to keep her laughter under control while Blake simply pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Oh Oum, there's two of them..."

"In any case... Professor Goodwitch, if you could retreive Ms. Schnee so that Ms. Rose and Mr. Spectrum can board the Bullhead?" Ozpin requested before Yang practically stormed up to him. "Hey, hold on a minute!" she called out to the man, "I'm not letting you just take Ruby away without dragging me with her; she did nothing wrong."

"Ms. Xiao Long! You WILL adhere to the rules of conduct when addressing the headmas-" Glynda started to rant before Ozpin's reply to her stopped her.

"I had no intentions of doing so, Ms. Xiao Long."

Glynda and everyone present, save for Dichro, simply stared at the man in shock before he continued. "You are, afterall, direct family to Ms. Rose and as such are entitled to join us. And Ms. Belladonna, seeing as you are Ms. Xiao Long's partner, you'll be allowed to accompany us as well... The rest of you, however, will find there is hardly enough space as it is and will have to find your way back to Beacon on your own."

"Well... Alright, I guess," Jaune said as he grabbed the golden Rook piece from it's pedestal, "See you guys back at the cliff?" At that, the girls of the future team RWBY nodded as they got into the Bullhead with Weiss being carried onboard by Glynda.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

That first introduction... could have gone better...

I mean I'm not without fault, mind you, but Yang didn't have to call me fraggin' short! That's the main reason it hit me so hard; my favorite character just called me short...

Just friggin' peachy...

I was the last to climb aboard the Bullhead and found it to be... rather plain. I had never seen the inside of any aircraft, in all honesty, but it just was all different shades of gray with very dark gray seats along the walls of the craft. Weiss had been secured between Ruby and Ozpin on one side of the craft while across from them Yang and Blake sat with an empty seat next to Blake. While I was initially upset that I couldn't sit by Yang, I knew this was going to be my chance at figuring out what all went wrong for her to not hide her faunus side. After I took my seat and strapped myself in, Ozpin signaled for Glynda to take off as the latch closed by itself. While they were soft sounding compared to some of the noises I've heard aircraft make in videos, I could still hear the engines come to life as we lifted off. A little while passed before I got the courage to sate my curiosity as I turned to Blake ready to ask my question, but was halted as Weiss beat me to the punch with a question of her own. "So Blake," she began, "How DID you know about that Grimm that attacked me and Ruby? Or the fact that one such Grimm attacked a Schnee Dust Company cargo train?"

The faunus girl looked at Weiss for a moment before looking down in shame as she replied, "... Because I was there when it attacked..."

"That's impossible!" the heiress interrupted, "The only way you would have been there was if either you were part of the guard forces OR..."

"I was there... to hijack the train..."

Everyone save for me and Ozpin looked to Blake in shock. Ozpin remained stoic as usual whereas I looked at her in pity knowing she would have to do this eventually; otherwise, they can't trust her if she isn't open enough to speak of her past, but talking about it must not be easy.

"I was a part of the White Fang, since way back when I was little," Blake said as she began her tale, "I was there at every rally and every boycott the White Fang held... Back then, the White Fang were more peaceful... But that was before their leader stepped down, and a more violent one took his place... That's when the White Fang turned from peaceful protests to more violent methods..." The girls listened on with rapt attention whereas Ozpin and I merely nodded. "We resorted to stealing from those that had wronged us and attacking everyone that went against us... And you know what the worst part is?"

"It was working."

Everyone looked at me in shock before I had realized what I had said. Trying to save face, I quickly replied, "Well you have to admit, fear is a pretty good deterrent."

"But that's exactly the problem; it isn't out of respect - its out of fear," Blake interjected as she continued, "Eventually, the White Fang started targeting cargo supplies like the Cargo train I was sent to hijack. Me and my ex-partner, Adam Taurus, were sent to take the train and we nearly succeeded... But I was ready to stop the violence; to leave Adam and the White Fang behind... I was ready to cut the cargo loose from the engine..."

"But that's when the Grimm attacked... isn't it?" the heiress asked. I couldn't tell exactly what was going on in her head, but I could definitely see that ol' Snow White was pushing something back.

Blake nodded before she continued her story. "They came in droves as they launched themselves onto the the train engine trying to get inside. I tried to get on top of the engine when I heard the connection between the dust carts and the engine itself break. That's how I saw Adam standing there - just smirking at me as the train pulled away... I fought off as many as I could when some... thing... attacked the engine itself and knocked it clear off the rails; that flung me off the train entirely.."

"What happened?" Ruby asked... Poor girl's curiosity will get her killed if she doesn't curb it soon - if not lose her innocence before then...

"After I recovered, I saw it..." was the faunus girl's reply, her face becoming one of someone who had seen a Nightmare come to life. "A Grimm with two sickle blades on each arm... Armor covering it's entire thorax... Mandables that were ready to rip flesh to shreds... But the part that I will NEVER forget were it's eyes... Large, angry orange eyes that always followed you no matter where you were."

I stared at her in wide-eyed shock as she described the beast. It couldn't be... She fought the Kamakiri that I killed? And then those Grimm... If what she said was true, then I found out where the Grimm in the Emerald Forest went... I was disturbed from my thoughts as she continued.

"I tried to fight it... I tried to fend it off and make it retreat, but it was too fast even for my semblance... I tripped and that was all it needed before it..." she stopped as she gripped the seat's armrests clearly upset by whatever happened.

"It got you... didn't it..." I didn't so much ask as I had stated that happened. She didn't even look at me or respond as she simply nodded. That got me to thinking just when did all this happen? I got my answer when she finally continued.

"I woke up in a hospital the next day... The doctors told me I was the epitome of luck since I would be able to walk and do what I was able to without any negative effects... The only downside was a scar that I would always carry... After I was released, I had been brought to the authorities because of my affiliation with the White Fang and interrogated for information. They told me that in light of what I had done and the fact that I was ready to leave them that my sentence would be 4 years imprisonment with no chance of parol... Professor Ozpin came up to me by the time they told me this and gave me an ultimatum; spend those years in jail or spend it where I had intended to - at Beacon Academy, learning to become a huntress to help people, with the stipulation that I am not allowed to leave the premises without any member of my future team. You can see which choice I made, obviously."

This had me worried... 'Everything is lining up too easily,' I thought to myself in contemplation, 'the Grimm appearing at that heist, the lack of Grimm in the Emerald Forest until today, Blake's heritage and history practically being worn on her sleeve the moment she enters Beacon... And then there's that new Grimm; the Kamakiri... Problem is, I don't know exactly WHEN the heist took place; maybe it was just co-incidence? Or I could just be thinking that in some vain hope that I'm wrong... Either way, I have to know...' I turned back to Blake and asked, "I need to know... WHEN was the train hijacking supposed to be?"

She looked at me curiously before giving me an answer I was SO not wanting, "Two days ago... Why?"

I couldn't hold it in any longer... I gripped the armrests of my seat as I closed my eyes with my head held low; teeth gritting hard enough that I thought for a moment that they would shatter under the force. That was the exact day I started having trouble finding the Grimm - that means that I drove them from the Emerald Forest to Forever Fall Forest...

That means that Blake was hurt because of my actions...

That it was my fault...

I barely heard someone call my pseudo name as I slammed a fist into the armrest it was on with a yell of "DAMNIT!"

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Blake wasn't normally one to pry into a stranger's personal space, but she saw it in her fellow passenger's eyes that something was wrong - something involving her - as she answered him with "Two days ago... Why?" He suddenly looked down at the floor with his eyes cinched shut as he gripped the armrests of his seat. "Dichro?" she called to him softly at first, "Are you alright, Dichro?"

"DAMNIT!" was his reply as he slammed a fist into the armrest; denting it in the process. The noise startled all aboard, even Glynda and Ozpin, as all but Glynda looked at him in confusion and worry. "It's all MY fault..." he whispered but Blake heard it clearly.

"Wh-what?"

"I can't believe I was so... stupid!" the bi-colored young man continued to berate himself.

"Dichro..." Blake called out to him, but he ignored her.

"I was the one that drove the Grimm from the Emerald Forest to Forever Fall Forest..."

"Dichro!" she called again, but alas he ignored her still.

"The Kamakiri attacked because of me..."

"DICHRO!" this time, the faunus girl yelled at him, snapping him from his stupor of guilt and anger.

"Wh-what?" he said looking at her in confusion, "What's going o-?" he started to ask but looked at where his hand was and saw the armrest dented.

"Dichro, listen to me..." Blake started as calmly as she rubbed his back. "Whatever happened wasn't your fault-"

"It was," he interrupted as he turned to her before continuing, "I was hunting the Grimm in the Emerald Forest until today to level up my Kamen Rider forms. Because of me, they vacated the forest out of fear." Everyone looked at Dichro as if he had grown a second head.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

Looks like the cat's out of the bag now, so to speak; if I wanted to recover from this, I had to do something. So I decided to try and Grinch my way out of this. "I'm literally not supposed to be here; I don't belong in any of the four kingdoms. That Kamakiri that attacked you, Red-Riding-Hood and Snow White here wasn't supposed to be here either; that was made specifically to fight ME." Judging from the shocked looks on everyone but Ozpin's faces, they were not taking that bit of news lightly.

Weiss was the first to ask her question as she tried to pronounce the name. "Karma-keeree? What's that supposed to be?" I gave a swift reply by first correcting her pronunciation. "Kah-mah-kee-ree. In one of the languages where I'm from, it literally means 'Mantis'. It's the name I gave that Grimm you and Red fought earlier."

"About that..." Ruby butted-in as she asked, "What happened to it?"

"Simple; I killed it, though barely I might add." If they weren't shocked before, they were now. Even Ozpin seemed shocked and worried at this.

"How is it you were able to defeat a Grimm several of our best huntsmen and huntresses were unable to even visibly damage?" the Headmaster asked me.

"Tch... Sheer dumb luck; that's how," I answered curtly as I scoffed. Evidently Ozpin didn't like how I answered him as he visibly glared at me... which was kinda scary when you think about it. Yang, however, saved me when she asked "What's a Common Rider anyway?"

I couldn't help but chuckle at this as I tried to correct her as well. "Kah-men Rider. In that same language, Kamen means Masked; so effectively you could call me a Masked Rider. Kamen Riders are a type of super hero that protects the world, though not all of them are good; the bad apples are called Dark Riders."

At this, Yang simply made an "Oh," sound before shutting up again. This finally gave Ruby a chance to speak up. "Are you from outside the four kingdoms?" she asked me. My reply was a shrug of my shoulders before answering, "That's one way of putting it..." A thought hit me as I suddenly remembered I wasn't supposed to know any of their names yet so I decided to play it out and see how it goes. "By the way... I don't think I caught any of your names yet."

"Oh, I'm Ruby Rose."

"My name is Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

"Blake Belladonna."

"Yang's my name, Xiao Long's... Also my name, but I'm Ruby's older sister."

"You don't look like sisters... Is one of you adopted or a halfa?" I had to ask... Oh god, Butch Hartman woud kill me if he knew I used that term like that.

"Ah... Halfa?" Yang looked pertubed to say the least, as did the others.

"Half-a-sister, half-a-stranger. A halfa." The poor blonde would have fallen to the floor laughing while clutching her sides had it not been for her safety belt. Blake simply stared at me in what I could only assume was a cross between disbelief and fear before speaking up. "Dear Oum, you are actually worse than Yang..."

I simply shrugged with a smile plastered on my face before Glynda told us that we were about to land. I felt a sudden jerk from the tension on the landing gear before the sound of the engines faded as they cut off. The professor-turned-pilot informed us that we had landed and that medical staff and personel would be waiting for us outside. Whoo boy... I do not do well with doctors. As we all unstrapped ourselves and the door opened, a woman dressed in a nurse's hospital outfit; NOT the kinky one, perverts, the one that's basically a green shirt with green pants, came in and picked up Weiss as best as she could considering the space constraint before carrying her back out. I looked to the professors to see if they wanted to leave first but Glynda motioned for the girls to go first. Eventually, we all piled out of the Bullhead and I got my first look at Beacon with my own eyes...

It... Was... Massive.

The academy grounds looked less like a school, and more like an entire freakin' city! Towers and large buildings everywhere I looked with paved paths linking each other with green grass growing everywhere that a path or building wasn't placed. I couldn't believe I was seeing this through my own eyes; I had started to wander when one of the medical staff had told me to follow them. That's when I stiffened... You have no idea how much just visiting the school nurse frightened me, let alone a doctor. I felt someone tap my shoulder before looking over my shoulder to see who it was. Yang looked at me with a sort of concerned smile, if you will, and asked, "You okay, short stuff?"

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Yang might not be rocket scientist of the year, but, due to being Ruby's big sister, the blonde brawler was a farcry from the dullest bulb in the lighthouse; she could tell something was going on with Dichro the moment he made his outburst. She had hoped that trying to distract him from whatever it was troubling him would work but it only got worse when Professor Goodwitch had mentioned medical personel. As soon as Weiss was picked up, they had been told to exit the Bullhead with Dichro practically being first off; his gaze drifting all over the place as if he had never seen Beacon before, though she assumed he probably hadn't in the first place. When one of the staff members tried to get him to follow, however, she saw his personality essentially do a full 180; he went from awe-struck to horrified in less than the blink of an eye. Her first instinct was to play the annoying big sister and slap him on the back to get him moving, but decided that wasn't the best course of action after seeing his gaze. 'Looks like this is a job for Mama Yang,' she thought to herself as she cautiously approached him and tapped his shoulder. Once his gaze made contact with hers, she smiled softly and asked, "You okay, short stuff?"

Dichro merely gazed at her more before shaking his head as his gaze returned to the medical staff, in which case Yang's smile vanished; in it's place was a look of understanding.

"Afraid of doctors, huh..." she stated rather than asked. Regardless, she got a reply when he nodded again. Once more, she resisted her instincts; though this one was to hug the little guy. Instead, she called for Ozpin and tried to explain what was going on.

"Professor Ozpin? I don't think Dichro should be checked on by one of the staff," she started as he looked questioningly at his student. When asked why this was the case, she replied, "I'm not ENTIRELY sure, but I'm willin' to bet lien that he's had very bad experiences with medics and the like... I'm not ENTIRELY sure what those were, though... So..."

"Perhaps a more informal approach is needed?" Ozpin interjected. She simply nodded at this. "Very well... I suppose I'll look into it myself."

"Thanks, Professor," was all she said before she ran off to check on her little sister. Ozpin himself turned to the bi-color-themed young man and cleared his throat. "Ahem, if you would, Mr. Spectrum, I'd like you to follow me to my office..." With that distraction being all that was needed, Dichro almost eagerly followed the headmaster as the walked to the largest tower in the academy; Beacon Tower itself.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

WHOOP! Professor Ozpin to the rescue!

Seriously, the man just saved me from an anxiety attack because of my iatrophobia... Only now that I'm away from the others, I'm starting to get the feeling he was looking for an excuse to have me pulled to his office as we went up the elevator. When the doors opened, I knew I felt like everything just suddenly turned surreal; the room itself was filled to the brim with clockwork cogs that clicked and clattered in the chambers above the actual office's windows and outside of the view of the outside, though that wouldn't matter considering I could see a cloud passing the window by...

In the center was an enlongated table held up by four slanted legs pointing in inverse directions with a chair behind it. The main window itself was decorated to look like the face of a clock as the hands moved to indicate the time like normal. How they moved without being directly connected to the clockwork escapes me but I filed it as simply Ozpin being the Dumbledore of Remnant; he can do whatever the frag he wants.

"Enjoying the view?" Speak of the devil and he shall appear; I kinda forgot he was still there. I looked for him and found him looking out of the side windows holding his cane before walking to his seat and sitting down. He motioned me to come up to the desk; which I reluctantly did so as he nodded. He looked me up and down in the way a skeptical policeman would before speaking again. "I hear you have... personal troubles with medical staff?" I only nodded as I tried to read what his stoic expression was trying to convey; yet I couldn't get a thing out of him. He simply nodded back before continuing. "Then perhaps I should ask you a few questions so that we can get a more familiarized staff member to see to you?"

Oh boy, this was it; he knows something's up with me and he wants answers. I simply nodded in agreement before he gave a small smirk in victory.

"Then let's get down to business... The first order is actually a question..." he started as the smirk vanished. "Would you mind telling me..." he paused as he spoke.

"Your 'real' name?"

* * *

xXx

* * *

Finally; done and done!

I know this chapter isn't as great as all the others but I hope you still get to enjoy it all the same! Until next chapter...

See ya next game!


	7. Lies We Tell

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

Now, I know the last chapter was not as... "entertaining" as most of the others but I hope it was at least enlightening when it came to some background information which you will be receiving more of in this chapter, but first; let's deal with the questions.

Ride player hary... SHHHHH! Please don't spoil what Emu's going to do. XD Also, I don't wish to Flanderize Dichro by having everyone calling him short every chapter. I'll probably only do it when new people meet him.

Raidentensho; Considering the Grimm are practically harmless compared to the Bugster Virus... I wouldn't worry too much about any sort of side effects... Also, Dichro won't be trying to rip off any other Kamen Rider's story as it won't work with Ozpin; Dumbledore of Remnant, afterall. So instead, he's going to be as open as he can.

Judaz; while this isn't a "toy becomes real" cliche, you have to understand that this is not Parad's GGD we're dealing with but rather a brand spanking new one that our MC found. If the level-up system in it isn't proof enough that the Gashats are different, then I don't know what is. As it stands, the Bugvisor is too dangerous as it would cause the virus itself to spread dramatically when used; also the fact that it's so out of place amongst the citizens of Remnant that people would question where such a weapon came from and target Dichro just to get their hands on it would endanger those around him even more. So for this reason, he will not be getting the Bugvisor. As for the other double gashats, I'm up in the air for them as well since I have not had a specific point in time planned for when the MC will get a Gamer Driver.

Ice Bite, I would rather try to keep them a secret if I can, but I won't be doing a SYOC as I would just butcher any character I used other than my own...

With that out of the way, here is the next chapter in "The Paradox of Remnant"; I hope you enjoy!

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

'There it is; that's the kicker...' I thought to myself as Ozpin's question played in my mind over and over for what felt like hours; I knew he was suspicious, but I didn't think he'd catch on THAT quickly. Oh well, there goes keeping a secret from a literal "immortal" man... I simply sighed out of a cross between frustration and oddly enough relief as I now knew I'd have someone to relinquish any information to; the problem, however, was making sure he could keep to his word... I looked up at him with a blank expression as I asked him, "So... what gave me away?"

"You mean aside from the fact that your name coincided perfectly with our Color Naming Tradition despite claiming to be from 'outside the four kingdoms'?" he asked right back at me. As I thought about it... I soon realized how much of an idiot I was; I left myself completely wide open for that one. I decided this had to be the moment I gave him the benefit of the doubt and confront him.

"Before I answer your earlier question... I need a favor of you," I said. He continued to look at me in his usual stoic gaze for a moment before nodding. "Whatever I say in this room stays in this room... If anyone else knew this, the results would be disastrous; moreso than they already are - and I am not joking nor making threats."

He simply nodded once more before motioning me to continue... Okay... Here goes nothing.

"My name..." I began, "isn't Dichro Spectrum; as you have already surmised... It's actually Steven Richardson... I chose the name Dichro Spectrum in order to try and blend in with the locals if contact was all but completely unavoidable - you can tell how THAT turned out..."

"Hmmm... So what were you doing in the Emerald Forest?" Ozpin asked me as he typed something on a panel - most likely recording whatever I say and testing it against some form of lie detector.

"I was merely trying to survive until I could find a way back home."

"So you truly were stranded in the Emerald Forest-" "Not entirely, sir."

He looked at me with an eyebrow slightly raised as I tried to explain. "While I had no idea where I was in the forest itself nor when in time I was, I had not actively sought out civilization for some rather... complicated reasons..."

He continued to stare at me as if waiting for me to continue before I nodded. "This is why I said for everything I say here to remain in this room... You see... I never really 'lied' when I said I was from 'outside the four kingdoms'... But I didn't tell the entire truth; I'm not even from Remnant at all." This had him raising both his eyebrows in surprise; wow, that is SO awkward to look at, but, alas, I continued my story. "Where I come from... Remnant... The Grimm... Everything here was a web show there for our entertainment."

Ozpin's look of shock was soon replaced with a rage that made even me cringe but I still had more so I tried to hold my hands up and asked him, "Whoa, don't go attacking me just yet, okay? I can prove it. Beneath the school is a place called 'the Vault' where the Fall Maiden, who has had a run-in with a woman who stole her powers, lies in intensive care. You plan to pass her aura, the very symbol of her life, onto someone else so that the Fall Maiden's powers would abandon the woman that stole her power in the first place." That did it... Ozpin stared at me wide-eyed as he dropped his cane in raw, utter shock.

I don't believe it... I broke Ozpin!

"H-How...?" was all he could mutter. As much as I was tempted to say 'Lucky guess?' I knew I had to put this poor guy out of his misery if I wanted to get back on his good side and have him as an ally rather than an enemy. "Remember what I said; this world was nothing more than a show for my world's entertainment, but now that I'm ACTUALLY here I can say it was more a vision into this world's future - I can already tell you that future has been altered."

"Altered?" That fixed him, somewhat... He was still recoiling from having one of his biggest secrets blown, but I could tell he was able to think clearly enough to understand what I had to say. "How was it... 'altered'?" was all he asked.

"You remember the day that you came up to Blake and offered her a chance to attend Beacon Academy instead of being jail-bound for 4 years; how that whole incident that triggered it came to be?" He nodded, prompting me to continue. "Well... That never should have happened. The Grimm that attacked the train weren't supposed to be there. Blake was supposed to be the one that cut the dust carts from the engine as she rode it back to Vale; leaving Adam behind. And that Kamakiri Grimm; I didn't lie when I said it was made specifically to fight me - Salem knows that I can absorb the essence of Grimm and views me as a threat now. She'll send her cronies to try and do me in as soon as possible."

Mentioning Salem must have triggered something as his eyes widened even more before his serious, stoic expression returned. "And how, pray tell, can you absorb the essence of Grimm?" he questioned me as if daring me to answer it. I stuck a hand into my jacket and pulled out the GGD before putting it on the table standing up on it's insert side.

"With this..." I started, "the Gashat Gear Dual; a device not of this world, much like myself. Unlike me, however, it did not come from my world either; rather, it came from a television show I enjoyed from a country called Japan... It is a device that can transform me into Kamen Rider Para-DX -" As I said this, realization hit me... Hard... "Which is supposed to be a secret... that I blew to ten people already..." I held my head low in embarrassed shame... "Ah crapbaskets..."

"Rest assured, I will have all involved parties held liable for keeping the information regarding your identity confidential unless advised otherwise, Mr. Richardson -" Ozpin stated, being quick on the uptake as ever, "or would you rather me refer to you by your alias to simplify the process of becoming accustomed to your new name?"

"I'd rather try to get used to my new name, sir." And that was an honest answer; I don't want to forget who I was before, but I had to get used to being Dichro Spectrum for the time being. He made a grab for the GGD, but, before he could even touch it, I slapped his hand away after I nabbed the device myself. "Don't!" I yelled out. "If you or ANYONE other than me even tries to fiddle with this thing, it will unleash a threat infinitely more disastrous than the Grimm ever will be!" He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and asked what could possibly be worse than the Grimm... If only he knew...

"The Bugster Virus. I can't give the exact statistics on how it works, but I can tell you the basics of what it can do."

He motioned for me to continue as I put the GGD back in my jacket. "The virus itself is dangerous but what comes from it is even moreso. The virus came around from corrupted and mutated video game code that can infect a human and then got spread by a madman - and that's the TL;DR of it..."

"Tee... Ell... Dee... Are?" he repeated slowly, as if trying to understand it. I simply chuckled and said, "It's an acronym; it means 'Too long; didn't read' and is mostly used to describe phrases or descriptions that are HEAVILY summarized in their size. Anyway, the actual virus infects a human via a corrupted game where the victim starts to suffer weakness, pain throughout their bodies, and even random bouts of passing out. As this 'gaming illness' progresses, the victim's body deteriorates into code and is transformed into what is known as a Bugster. The Bugster is a monster based around certain characters or aspects of whatever game the virus came from and cannot be hurt except by other Bugsters or a Kamen Rider." I looked around the office for a second before asking, "Is there a chance I can get a seat or something to sit in?" With a nod, Ozpin pointed to a few chairs that were situated by a small desk with a pot on it. 'Well that's convenient...' I thought to myself sarcastically as I walked over and grabbed one before setting it in front of the headmaster's desk and sitting in it.

"What happens to the patient if this... Virus... fully forms into a bugster?" Ozpin asked as I sat down. I turned to him and stated, "Simply, they die... Exactly, though... I can't really say as it might not apply to THIS world; normally, the data from someone that has perished via becoming a Bugster or getting a 'Game Over' trying to cure their virus is transferred to the Proto Gashat the game's data originally came from - a Proto Gashat is a prototype of the game its meant to be."

"How does one... CURE... the virus?" was his next question.

"Simple. They have to clear the game the Bugster came from; but it has to involve the Bugster in some way; the most common way of doing this is by destroying the Bugster which is something only another Bugster or a Kamen Rider can do."

"You talk of Bugsters as if they are not 'all' on the same side... Do they have personalities of their own if formed enough?"

I simply nodded at him before speaking again. "Of course they do; Bugsters are just as variant as people... Though most of them tend to seek the destruction of humanity, some want to be left alone and exist while some want to actually help humans; there was even a rather benevolent Bugster who had his game cleared without having him destroyed just so he can keep his victim safe, but, at the same time, there are those who just seek to hurt others for their own amusement."

"Sounds to me like that is more in common with our Human/Faunus relations..."

I shook my head slightly at this before speaking, "While that may seem true, more often than not the Bugster will seek to do harm and cause destruction. Anyway, once the victim is cured, no trace of the Bugster Virus is found in them. The GGD, that's what I call this..." I pat my jacket where the GGD was before continuing, "Is a gashat that is loaded with a lethal dose of the virus; what happens if anyone tries to use it is that the virus skips forming the Bugster and destroys the user's body... Or at least that's how it normally is."

"I take it something happened with yours?"

"You can say that again..." I stated in a deadpanned voice as I looked down at my feet. "The GGD didn't destroy my body when I first used it, but damn did this thing hurt like a monkey humpah..." I suddenly heard a snicker as I look back at the headmaster who was trying to look innocent glancing to one direction with a small smirk on his face. 'So Ozzie DOES have an impish side...' I thought to myself. "Normally, the base level of either form is 50 which is quite high compared to the normal Level 2 or 3 forms and the rarer Level 4 and 5 forms. Mine, however, started out at level 2 in both forms and I had to work up to their current levels; Knock-out Fighter being level 20 and Perfect Puzzle being 21. There are also other differences but for the sake of confidentiality, I'm going to withhold that information."

Ozpin merely nodded with a small smile; evidently he either thinks I'm nuts or he's actually glad I'm not telling him every little thing for once.

"Now then... You said you had... complicated reasons for not seeking out civilization?"

Now this was as good a time as any to test his metastability... "Tell me, professor; have you ever heard of 'The Butterfly Effect'?" As he shook his head in a negative, I nodded and began to explain. "It is a rule in the Chaos Theory that states the smallest changes can drastically alter the present and the future. It was named after a claim that 'Killing a butterfly will change history'. Me simply existing here has caused this to happen."

"Then that makes you, Mr. Spectrum, a pivotal piece of the puzzle in this scenario"

"Come again?" I asked confused. "What I mean is that because of your appearance and your actions, this world is now both safer and in greater danger than ever before. The way I see it is you are now the key to either it's salvation or it's destruction; if what you've said is true, then we now have a chance at surviving an upcoming war-"

"I'm afraid that this is no longer a war, Mr. Ozpin..." I interrupted him. He looked at me with an eyebrow raised as I looked at him with as serious and stoic an expression as I could muster. After a moment, he motioned me to continue. "The moment I became Kamen Rider Para-DX was the moment this war became a game... And there are rules to each and every game that must be obliged; otherwise it will result in a 'Game Over' for everyone involved... As of this moment... Everyone on Remnant is playing 'The Game' and the only way to win... is to survive." I might not have wanted to say that since it makes me sound like a villain of some kind, but it was the truth; the enemy WILL view this as a game and the only way to win is to survive as long as you can.

"And that isn't just because your device is themed around a game, isn't it?" he asked. "The world that it comes from revolves around games as it's primary theme."

I nodded before telling him, "Yes, although the GGD is actually two games instead of just one. Either way, you are correct."

"I see... Then we'll play by these rules as best as we can."

I nodded and asked if there was anything else he needed to know; his reply made me cringe a little... "Only to know if you have your aura unlocked."

I shook my head uneasily as he nodded in understanding. "Then we now have our first 'objective'. Until then, I have a proposition for you." 'Uh oh,' I thought in dread, 'that's not good.'

"Because of your interference, intended or otherwise, Team JNPR is lacking a true team leader since there are three candidates to choose from and Team RWBY, while having a leader candidate in Ms. Rose, needs an evaluation to determine if she is, indeed, fit to lead," he began to explain. "This is where you will come in."

'Oh no...' I thought as I could sense trouble was brewing, though didn't know how I could feel that, before asking, "H-How so?"

"Until further notice, you will be my eyes and ears for both teams. Your task will be to determine Ruby Rose's qualifications to lead while simultaneously evaluating and nominating a leader for Team JNPR. You will have a minimum of three months to perform this while we seek out a means to unlock your aura; if you have unlocked your aura before this time, however, you will still have the remaining time to finish your task before being assigned to one of the teams. Is this acceptable?"

"So... in other words..." I started hesitantly, "You want me to babysit both teams...?" I was expecting some kind of remark that made my observation seem like an over-simplification; that I was wrong in having to essentially guide both teams through a WHOLE term holding their hands... What I got, however, was a smirking nod.

'You fat, conniving monkey humpah... I bet this is payback for me breaking you earlier!'

"I do, however, have a suggestion..." he stated as he picked his cane back up, "I would recommend having someone you trust wholly and unconditionally to unlock your aura for you." That got me to thinking about how Jaune got his aura unlocked by Pyrrha... That whole ritual thing might be my best bet, but who would I trust unconditionally to do so without mucking it up big time? Only one name came to mind as I nodded. "I have someone in mind," I told him as I stood back up. "Then we'd best be on our way to the medical wards to inform Team RWBY of this development," he said as he too got back up and started for the elevator.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Several minutes had passed since the now Team RWBY entered the medical ward; the room itself was a typical solid white room with two rows of beds with dividers and curtains between them with a door in the back leading to another hallway - presumably to more equipped rooms that can handle surgeries. Team RWBY, minus Weiss, were sitting in a small section of the room vacant of any beds or dividers; in their place being chairs and a desk, where they discussed amongst each other.

"So anyone else worried about what happened out there before the initiation?" Ruby asked in concern. Yang merely shook her head in a negative as she gave her answer, "I'm more worried about what happened 'during' initiation. Didn't anyone else notice what Dichro did when he destroyed both Grimm?"

At this, the other two girls nodded. "I don't really think it's anything to do with Dichro himself, but that device he carries," Blake deduced, "You noticed how he used it to remove his armor, change his armor's form, and effectively power up his attacks, right?" At the girls' nods, she continued. "Perhaps that's the real culprit of whatever caused him to absorb the Grimm after he destroyed them..."

"I'm a bit more worried about what he's capable of; you heard him - he said he 'scared off the Grimm and made them move out of the forest when you did your um... thing..." Yang interrupted but hesitated as she referred to her Faunus partner's train hijacking.

"I did, and I also saw what he did without it; or did you forget that he bent a solid metal armrest?" she asked her blonde partner and her little sister. "Oh I saw..." Ruby started, "Scared me thinking he hurt himself..." Nervously, she picked up her cloak and began to fiddle with it before continuing, "And then there's that Grimm that Blake, Weiss and I encountered - the Kamakiri as he called it... That..." She shivered as she thought of what it did to Weiss' leg. "If such a Grimm was meant to fight HIM... and it STILL lost..."

"It's all the more reason to try and get to know him." Yang nodded at her partners words before adding her own thoughts into the mix. "We also know this much; he's still no different than any of us - he's still just a kid deep down; you didn't see it, but he was scared to even visit here with us. I had to ask Professor Ozpin that someone else see him." Both girls looked at the blonde brawler in shock as she said this. "I just think... It might be worth it to get along with him if nothing else..."

"There's a bit more, still..." Blake began, "Did you notice those scratches on his arms and face? If he had an aura, those wouldn't even be there." It was now the Faunus' turn to be stared at in shock. "You mean... He doesn't have his aura unlocked?" Ruby asked, almost afraid of the answer she was going to get. Blake's nod was all she needed, though, to have her fears confirmed. "Then... just how powerful will he be if he does have it unlocked?"

"Rubes, think about it," her sister interrupted as she put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder, "He saved you and Weiss in the forest and then saved you a second time back at the temple. If he meant any harm, then you would be back there with Ice Queen and I'd be tryin' to lob his head off."

"Right... I still owe him for that..."

"Then it's settled," Yang said as she put her hands on her hips, "We help him around Beacon as much as possible and try to be his friends."

"I'm not so sure Weiss would appreciate that..." Ruby interjected.

"She might have to, Ruby," Blake said as she got back up and looked at the door, "She might not think it, but she owes it to him as well to try and get to know him. I've also been thinking about something." When asked what by both girls, the Faunus girl sighed before replying, "Didn't anyone else notice his hair twitching on it's own when he was zoned out?"

Unfortunately for her, both girls shook their heads to confirm that they didn't notice. She sighed again but this time out of frustration. "If I had to guess, that wasn't hair at all, but really antennae for a Faunus. I have a hunch of what kind he is, but I still need to know one last thing before I make any final conclusions." Ruby was the one who asked, "What's that?"

"How he survived in the forest for so long. He had to have found a way to sustain himself somehow; hunting without any form of weapon alone would be tricky enough."

As she stated this, Dichro and Ozpin entered the room; the headmaster catching the attention of all three girls as they did so. "Ladies, I have an announcement to make involving you and Ms. Schnee when she is released," he started, "This will also apply to Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, Jaune Arc, and Lie Ren; though as they are not at the time present, they will be notified upon arrival."

"What news is that, prof?" Yang asked oddly curiously.

"You will have to find out, Ms. Xiao Long. For now, though, if you have any questions for Mr. Spectrum or myself, feel free to ask them."

Blake was the first to speak up as she asked, "I actually have something for Dichro. I want to know just how did you survive in the forest for so long? There isn't that many hunt-worthy game out there due to the Grimm presence." At this, Dichro shrugged as he closed his eyes and faced away for a second. "Not sure... I only had a few berries and a stream to keep me sustained."

"When was the last time you ate?" "Yesterday," the dichromatic boy answered, "Why?"

"Then you should be famished by now. Aren't you hungry?"

"Kinda, but not really... I mean I can go for a lil' snack or somethin' but nothing heavy." Blake pondered on this as she nodded her approval. 'Looks like I found out what you are, Mr. Spectrum...' she thought to herself.

"What is that thing you used earlier?" Ruby inquired as she looked him over trying to find the device on his person. His reply, however, wasn't what she was expecting. "The Gashat Gear Dual, or the GGD for short. Don't ask how it works because I don't know."

"Can I at least try i-" "NO!"

The poor reaper jumped at the shout whereas Yang got up and was ready to punch the midget in the face for yelling at her sister like that. "Hey, what's the big idea; she only asked you a question?!"

"I don't know EXACTLY how it works but I do know that anyone who uses it besides me gets killed by it. That's not something I want happening to anyone." This caused Blake to look at the boy in concern and Yang's expression to change from anger to guilt. "Sorry, I didn't know you were trying to protect her..." she began, "But you didn't have to shout at her like you did."

"I'm sorry, too, but the sooner I can curb her curiosity on the subject, the better off she'll be." His apology was enough for Yang for the moment, but she still kept her violet gaze on him warily. At that moment, Weiss was wheeled into the room from the back door by a nurse before they placed her onto the bed closest to the rest of her team. The girls then tried to bombard the poor heiress with questions but were interrupted as Ozpin spoke.

"Ladies... Now that you are all here, it's time to make an announcement. From this moment on, you will be known as Team RWBY, lead by Ruby Rose." This news shocked all present but none moreso than Ruby herself as she stared at the man with an open mouth before being glomped by her sister as she cheered, "I knew you were special, sis!"

"However..." The girls turned to Ozpin as he started again, "Due to the circumstances of Ruby's nomination for leadership as well as a lack of a nominee for leader of the soon-to-be Team JNPR, I have devised a plan to help evaluate her qualifications as well as those of Team JNPR. While your leader may be Ruby Rose, she and Team JNPR will be monitored and evaluated by Mr. Spectrum here for the remainder of the term; until then, he will act as the true leader for both teams."

The girls all stared at Dichro in wide-eyed shock while Dichro, himself, glared at the man who had made that announcement. 'This year...,' Ozpin thought to himself, 'is going to be a headache...'

* * *

xXx

* * *

There you go! The next installment of the Paradox of Remnant! Hope you've all enjoyed it, so until the next chapter...

See ya next game!


	8. Learn Something New

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

I see some of you are actually surprised about Dichro being a Faunus. Well if you look back, you can see all the clues that point to the fact that he wasn't human when he first picked up the GGD. That being said, one of you got it in one go and deserve a commendation. Before I get into the questions, there is one question that has been brought up continuously that must be addressed now and forevermore...

"Will the Gashat Gear Dual Beta be in the story?"

The short answer...

No...

The long answer...

I have no godly idea how to answer to that; the story up until now has been more of a bunch of spur of the moment decisions with a singular goal in mind. I don't know why it's working but it is and I am glad of it, but please belay this question until I come to a clearer understanding of the plot overall. As for other Gashats... I can now say that there are TWO Gashats that WILL BE appearing later on in the story, but not in the immediate future. Those Gashats are...

" **MIGHTY BROTHERS DOUBLE X!** "

" **Kamen Rider Chronicle!** "

I hope that answers your questions on the matter, but we still have other questions and reviews to get to. Let's go, shall we?

Raidentensho, you may want to sit down for this because it's going to take a while for me to get done with the calculations... *goes outside to get a calculator and tries to estimate how much 20 tonnes is*... FORTY-FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS?! Holy crap, that'd be incredibly OP! Oh right, the other questions! Ahem... I cannot answer your Pyrrha question as it would spoil too much. I will say, however, that it won't be TOO much different than cannon except for Pyrrha living.

Ride player hary... Alas, Emu will only be in a filler chapter which won't be for another few chapters; what this means is officially, he won't exist in the story except in this one chapter.

Demons Anarchy of Pride, I can assure you that they are not confusing his Rider form for his armor-less form. The clues to him being a Faunus are scattered throughout the previous chapters. As for who this will be a headache for... I'm gonna go D. all of the above. XD

Mind Master, you are literally flattering me, but all I'm doing is just writing something that I, myself, would enjoy reading. "If you build it, they will come." This is a quote that applies even to arts like cooking, drawing, and yes - even writing. Now, onto your questions...

1) He is already infected with two different strands of the virus but he hasn't shown any of the symptoms he has described yet.

2) As funny as that will be, I am not sure I can slip it past my 'betas' in order to get away with it. XD

3) Funnily enough, I had planned on them falling straight through the energy items when they try to grab them.

4) Dichro will only have the forms granted to him via the Gashat Gear Dual, I'm afraid... The story is practically built around Kamen Rider Para-DX and the Time Paradox he created.

And finally, a warning: I don't want anyone to get into trouble so I would kindly like to ask not to post more than two reviews per chapter. Anything more will get removed to ensure no one gets into trouble for abusing the review section. I do this because certain people, I won't say who, have been leaving multiple reviews with messages complaining about autocomplete and autocorrect... I can understand the frustration here, but do keep in mind that I'm not one to accept people getting into trouble over trivial things like that.

I hope that you all have enjoyed the story thus far and will continue to enjoy it throughout this new chapter.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

The remainder of the day had passed with little incident aside from Team JNPR being told of their situation of lacking a leader as well as announcing all the new teams for the new year; as such, they were also notified of Dichro being a sort of 'overseer' for both them and Team RWBY.

Needless to say, a carrot topped, hammer swinging ball of energy was greatly against this at first; claiming that she would "pop some skulls" and "break some legs" if she didn't get an answer as to why their team didn't have a leader of their own. When told about the circumstances of Dichro's appearance as well as the fact that his identity as a Kamen Rider was to remain a secret, she reluctantly agreed. Team RWBY were also held to the same stipulation that they keep Dichro's identity as Para-DX a secret; to which they agreed immediately.

Lacking space in either dorm, Dichro requested to sleep in the hall as he had been used to sleeping outside; much to both teams' chagrin, save for Weiss and in some part Blake since they understood why, as no one wanted to see someone have to sacrifice like that just for the sake of comfort.

The next day came as the bi-colored teen yawned as he stretched, waking up to see the sun had barely started to rise. 'Typical...' he thought as he stood up, 'Sleep in a forest for three nights and you'll never wake up late again...' Looking around, he tried to discern just what time it was, but couldn't find a clock anywhere nearby; not that he was looking all that hard anyway. Deciding that it would be better if he stayed productive, he chose to do some simple and quiet exercises in the form of push-ups, crunches, and squats. Needless to say, he found out all too soon that there was an early riser amongst Team RWBY, and it was the last person he expected - Yang Xiao Long, whom had caught him in the middle of one of his squats as she giggled. This caught the teen by surprise as he blushed and bolted upright before he turned to face her as she asked, "What are you doing?"

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

Of all the people to be an early riser... Why, oh gods, did it HAVE to be YANG!? I was in the middle of my forty-sixth squat when I heard her giggle behind me and ask what I was doing. I practically jumped in my skin with the heat rushing to my face as I stood up and turned around to catch her in her PJ's; a simple orange tank top with her burning heart emblem in red right smack in the middle and black, low-cut shorts that may as well have been underwear. I turned away embarrassed even more at the sight before I nervously replied, "I w-was simply doing some m-morning exercises..." It always embarrassed me when any of my siblings or my mom caught me doing any of my morning exercises let alone the ones Yang caught me doing; I never could explain why though...

Guess I just was never too fond of showing off.

Anyway, I asked her; while still looking away from her, if there was a reason she was up early since Ozpin gave the new teams an extra day off to get acquainted with each other. Her reply got me off guard, however...

"I'm normally up before Ruby, and she's an early bird," she started off, "Someone has to keep her in line while we're here. Besides, I wanted to get a head start on knowing someone else on the team." Hoo boy... This is not going to be fun. I was still trying not to look at her even when she asked me, "See anything you like?" I hid my face in my hands in a groan of sorrow which prompted Yang to laugh a little before I punched either side of my head. Evidently, this wasn't what Ms. Punsalot expected as she asked if everything was alright.

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

She couldn't help it - she loved seeing guys squirm when they were around her and she hadn't had them in some vice grip or anything. Seeing Dichro continuously try to look away from her simply made her laugh because it meant her own charms were working... At least she thought they were as she posed with a hand on her hip and one holding her head with the elbow resting on the wall as she asked, "See anything you like?" She laughed and smiled a little as she saw him cover his face and groan but that laughter and smile vanished as she saw him punch himself as hard as he could. "Whoa, hold on there - you alright?" she asked with concern as she thought, for once, that she overstepped a boundary she didn't want to.

He sighed sadly as he closed his eyes and replied, "Not really... I just... was reminded of home just now..."

'So that's what's up, huh?' she thought to herself as she put a hand on his shoulder. "Dude, look..." she started, "If you wanna talk about it, I've got more than one ear open... At least I think I do." She play-picked her ear as she said this last bit before smiling and saying, "Yup, both ears are working."; popping the 'p' sound as she said "Yup".

"Thanks... I just..." he hesitated as he thought of what to say. "I have an older sister and brother who are twins and... well they tend to make things as awkward as possible. They always called it 'Twinsanity', and one of the things they would do was that my sister would just bound right in, nothing but her underwear, and hug me from behind while I was doing something shouting 'Good Morning' as loud as she could before my brother would come in and say something that got me teased by my sister... They'd always ruffle my hair because I'd never look at her when she does that before leaving me to my misery afterwords." He gave a sad smile as he looked up at the roof before continuing. "They always played pranks and jokes whenever they had the chance... Makes me miss them..."

"What happened to them?" she asked. Dichro simply shrugged as he said, "Beats the bananas outta me; one minute I'm going to bed, thinking of my baby sister's birthday party, and the next I find myself waking up in the Emerald Forest..." Though he left out the fact that his appearance changed along with his height since that would only arouse more suspicion.

This brought an angry rise out of the blonde brawler as her violet eyes turned red and her aura started to flare up before speaking, "You were kidnapped?!"

"How else would you explain it?" he simply asked her. This caused the young woman to suddenly drop her aura as her violet eyes returned before asking what he meant. "What I mean is how do you explain how I got to that forest when I was asleep when I'm from outside the four kingdoms?" Her anger was now vanishing as confusion seeped into her conscious. "I..." she started but was interrupted by a now smiling Dichro.

"Either way, I'm here and not home... So I'd best make the most of it... Right?"

That question sounded so much like her own life choices; to just go wherever the wind takes her and just deal with things as they come. That was part of why she wanted to be a Huntress in the first place; the freedom of going wherever her whim takes her and to do some good along the way. "I guess, but... It's still not right." she stated as she shook her head.

"Is it any less wrong if I wasn't looking for someone to help in the first place?" he asked, catching her off guard as she raised an eyebrow. "Whadaya mean 'you weren't lookin' for someone to help'?" she asked, "Were you TRYIN' to avoid everyone?"

"In a sense..." Dichro started, "Yes, I was... Sadly, events I put into play put everyone at risk so I had to intervene... You can see how that turned out."

'There's no arguing that,' she thought to herself, 'if he hadn't been there, then Ruby would've... I don't even want to think about that...'

"By the way..." the dichromatic boy said, interrupting her musings, "I need to ask a favor of you... A really BIG one..."

This caught her attention as she went on high alert internally, thinking he was going to try and take advantage of her for saving Ruby; he may have saved her life, but she won't just give him something like that for free. "And that would be...?" she asked cautiously as her eyes narrowed at him.

"You wouldn't happen to know the ritual for unlocking one's aura... would you?"

Her eyebrows did a good impersonation of her hair as they went up and hid in it. "Er... yeah?" she more asked than answered but proceeded anyway. "Why...?"

She could see he was nervous about something as he fiddled with his thumbs and lightly blushed. "I'd... Like you to perform it on me..." Her eyes widened in shock at this which was soon washed away in a wave of relief.

'That's it?' she asked internally, 'That's what he's asking for in return? Jeez, now I kinda feel bad for thinking he wanted to do something else... He really must not have anyone here he can really trust.'

'I really hope I haven't stepped over any lines I wasn't supposed to...' were the worried thoughts of the hallways' only other occupant. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the reply, "Sooner said than done, kiddo... But I have to make sure; is this what you want? You're not gonna go tryin' to make a scene out of it or back out and find someone else, will you?"

He shook his head at first, thinking she was referring to the latter question but then nodded vigorously as he realized she was still talking about if he was sure about this. "Then... You're gonna have to look at me for a few minutes..." she told him. His eyes opened wide in shock before he closed them and shook his head. Yang by this point was getting to the limit of her patience before remembering what he had said. 'Is he... afraid of looking at me like this?' she asked herself before deciding to try another approach.

"Okay, you don't have to look at me but you have to at least face me; otherwise this won't be good for either of us..." she explained.

She got a nod as Dichro turned to face her, his 'hairs' twitching a little as she closed the distance and sat him down with herself following. She placed a hand on each shoulder and closed her eyes as she rested her forehead against his; her aura materialized around her and moved to envelop Dichro. 'I haven't done this, even for Ruby...' she thought in concern but pushed forward with the hope that she would do it right as she began the incantation.

" **For it is in passing that we achieve immortality... "**

Her words echoing in his mind as both of them felt an oddly pleasant chill run down their spines before a warmth began to build within their chests.

" **Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all...** "

The aura around Dichro began to change from it's yellow color to a vibrant red and dark blue, almost spiral in it's patterning.

" **Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee.** "

Between them formed a single, thread-like golden aura that stretched until it touched where their hearts were as their aura's slowly faded. As they both opened their eyes, their first sight was the golden thread that lingered, even after their aura faded, for a few moments before it, too, vanished. Too enthralled by what had happened, they stared wide-eyed at the space where the thread had been before the bi-colored boy blushed and turned to the side. Yang looked up at him in surprise and saw that his scratches were healing up rapidly. "Whoa..." Yang whispered to herself, the image of the golden thread still fresh in her mind.

"Wh-What does that mean...?"

The blonde brawler shook her head and looked at her dichromatic friend before asking what he meant. "That thing," he replied nervously, "the one that was... y'know... on our chests. What does that mean?" She shrugged lightly before shaking her head in a negative as she said, "Not sure..."

"Well..." Dichro began, "You need to get back inside; I'm sure more than one member of your team's an early riser..." At this, she felt something building inside she rarely felt, if ever; embarrassment. Embarrassment over what, she didn't know, but what she did know was that it didn't feel like it was her own. She chuckled lightly and patted Dichro's shoulder before saying, "If that's your way of telling me to get dressed, I'll be right back out. Besides, we have to stop by Vale City and get you some clothes or something."

"Yeah, and maybe a haircut..." was his reply as he tugged at one of the "hairs". Seeing this made Yang flinch as she got up before she turned to the door of her team's dorm and went back inside.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

'I wonder what that was all about...?' I mused as I thought about the incident that just occurred...

I looked down at my arms to find all the scratches from when I was in the forest healed up right fast, so I knew my aura was now active at least; the only problem left was learning how to use it. I suggested to myself that maybe pulling a page out of Mr. Miyagi's book would do me some good. I sat cross-legged on the floor with my hands on my knees as I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. Trying to clear my mind, the scene with the thread kept appearing in my head and the more I tried to push it out the more I kept thinking of it. Eventually, I gave up trying to push it out and instead focused solely on that thread. 'What does that mean?' I asked myself, 'I've never seen it in the actual show; especially since it never happened with Jaune and Pyrrha... So then... why did it happen with me and Yang? Do we...' My musings were cut short when I suddenly felt... frustration? Why was I frustrated? I was only confused for the time being, and now I'm suddenly frustrated at Blake for some reason...

This is going to get confusing really fast...

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Blake had woken up and looked around the room after rubbing her yes to find that Yang had run off somewhere. Thinking she had gone to the bathroom, the young faunus woman decided now might be a good time to catch up on some reading until Ruby and Weiss woke up. Reaching the nearby dresser, she opened the top drawer and pulled out a black book with pinkish-red cursive writing that read " _Ninjas of Love_ ". The series was her favorite to read, despite the negative connotations it's gotten, simply because she could relate to the character's issues. She opened the book up and read a few of the passages before the room door opened up; revealing a confused blonde-haired girl in her PJ's. She looked up at her partner with a raised eyebrow and asked, "Is something the matter?"

"Wha? Nah~!" Yang replied halfheartedly as she asked, "What makes you think that?"

"The fact that you're denying something's wrong and that you just came back in from doing something with Dichro," she stated in a deadpanned voice before genuinely asking in concern, "What happened out there? Did he tell you anything?"

"Only that he was basically kidnapped in the middle of the night from his sibs and dropped smack in the middle of the forest 4 days ago..."

Blake's eyes widened in shock and horror. The fact that someone would just kidnap someone else like that wasn't all that alien, so she would have understood it if he had been kept as a slave or as some sort of ransom; but kidnapping someone just to leave them in the middle of a Grimm-infested forest was a whole other level of unusual.

"Why would someone do that?" she asked; her only reply being a shrug of her partners' shoulders. "Did... Did something else happen?" She was morbidly curious; the one day she's spent around Yang, she could tell the girl was as open as a well-read book yet here she was walking around like a lost puppy. 'Was she taken advantage of?' she thought before her partner finally spoke.

"... Yeah... Something... Odd..." When asked how odd, Yang continued, "He asked me to unlock his aura, but it doesn't get odd there. Before that, he wouldn't even look at me."

"Maybe it's because you're half naked in front of a guy?" The blonde brawler mock-laughed at Blake before speaking again.

"Very funny, Blake... But that was when I learned he has family back where he came from and after that, he asked me if I could unlock his aura. I said 'Yeah, I can' so I did the thing and then this... weird thing happened."

The cat faunus' eyebrows shot upward in shock before she asked, "What weird thing?"

"I dunno!" Yang replied, grabbing one of her outfits from the closet before continuing, "It was like I felt something in my chest; not heartburn, mind you - that would have hurt. This didn't. Anyway, when I looked down to see what was going on, there was like this 'string'..."

"A string?!" Blake asked almost too excitedly.

"Yeah, it was kinda like coming out of my chest and Dichro's at the same time..."

"What color was it?" Blake inquired. Externally she was still in shock, but internally she was screaming like a bloody school girl. 'I swear if it was gold, then I am NOT going to be reading Ninjas of Love for a LONG time,' she thought to herself.

"Um... I think it was like... Gold or something... Why?" That did it as Blake's hands covered her mouth to hide her small gasp. She couldn't believe it; her own partner was going to be the center of a rare phenomenon. 'I don't believe it!' she exclaimed in her mind as it was running a thousand miles an hour.

"Blake? Was that a bad thing?" She got a negative as Blake shook her head side-to-side. "Was it a 'good' thing?" This time, she didn't immediately get a reply.

"I'm not telling," was Blake's response. This made Yang frustrated at her partner as she stared in disbelief. "What's THAT supposed to mean?" she asked, "What are you hiding?"

"If you don't know already, you'll have to find out on your own," Blake said as she gave a small smile and pretended to resume reading her book. The blonde brawler merely frowned and growled lowly at Blake before going into the bathroom, holding her outfit, and closing the door to change. The cat faunus simply smirked as she looked at the bathroom door and thought, 'Yang, you have no idea how lucky you are... Finding your soulmate is no easy task.'

* * *

)-Later-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

Man... Today was... Weird...

First, Yang unlocks my aura and we saw this golden string on our chests... Then when both teams came out, I started getting these weird looks from everyone. It started out with Blake who almost looked giddy everytime she looked at me; then Yang eyes me up every now and then like she's just as directionally challenged as I am in where this was going; then, after talking to Blake, Nora starts giving me the stink eye... Meanwhile, Ruby, Weiss, Ren and Jaune look at me like I'm supposed to be some sort of performer and Pyrrha... well... Pyrrha's the only one who hadn't looked at me unless she was talking directly to me, namely because I think her mind was wandering elsewhere...

The actual shopping was... embarrassing!

People thought I was Red's little brother or something! I couldn't go anywhere without being called "cute" or "short", I couldn't find anything even halfway 'decent' in terms of size and comfort because half the time Ruby or Nora would tell me it looks bad; like they have any room to talk, and the other half was because the clothes were either too big, were child sizes, or too expensive; afterall, I had no money. I mean yeah, Weiss DID offer to pay for the clothes, but I wasn't going to be that snark little leech that just rings her bill sky-high... Eventually I just gave up and said I was going back to Beacon. Yang followed me because she was going to be bored if she stayed so... yay me... That started a chain reaction which got Blake following because she, and I quote, "Wanted to see how it would turn out", Ruby following out of loyalty to her big sis, then Weiss following because she had to keep Ruby in check... And then Jaune followed because of Elsa, and then the rest of Team JNPR soon after...

It was good to be back in Beacon...

When we got to the dorm, I rummaged through one of the drawers on the dresser near the door and found a pair of scissors which I grabbed and carried with me to the bathroom.

"If anyone needs me, I'm cutting my hair," I told everyone. The only reply I got was Weiss saying, "Don't leave the hairs in the sink, please. And if they fall on the floor, pick them up!"

I closed the door behind me and turned to the mirror on the wall before tugging down one of the long hairs that was on my forhead. The other one twitched for a moment, or at least looked like it to me, but I shrugged it off and brought the now open scissors to it near the same length as the rest of my hair before I heard something outside and started to feel... Panic?

"He's doing WHAT!?"

At that moment, I heard the door burst wide open as Blake and Yang, both with expressions that would look more at home on someone watching a gorey horror flic...

"Wha - What are you doing!?" Blake was the one to ask this. I simply looked at her like she had grown a third head before replying, "Cutting my hair?" Both girls looked at each other in wide-eyed shock before turning back to me. "Dichro..." Yang called out cautiously. "What... do you think you are?"

"A human. A really stubby human, mind you..." I replied, "But a human nonetheless."

"H-How..." the neko started to say before she shook her head and turned back to me. "Nevermind... Dichro, do you remember what happened on the Bullhead to Beacon from the Emerald Forest - How you dented that metal armrest?" As she asked this, I vaguely remembered it but nodded regardless; still lost by what was going on.

"Even among Faunus, that kind of raw strength is rare without a semblance." she explained somewhat slowly. Again, I nodded dumbly as she continued. "It's almost impossible for a human who hadn't had his aura unlocked to be able to have that much strength, let alone someone of your... stature..."

"So... what, you think I have a semblance before I had my aura unlocked?" I asked. She shook her head and continued. "That's impossible; for without access to one's aura, one's semblance would forever remain hidden... What I mean is... You're not human." I glared at her as my eyes began to narrow. "What do you mean, 'I'm not human'?" I asked almost threateningly. I swear if she calls me a freak alien... Well the alien part would be right, but the freak part I won't put up with.

"You're... an Ant Faunus..." This caught me by surprise as I stared wide-eyed at her once more before Yang spoke up, though I wish she hadn't.

"You weren't about to cut off hair... You were about to cut off your antennae!"

At that realization... I couldn't take anymore... Everything just suddenly turned... Black.

* * *

xXx

* * *

Sorry for the cliffhanger, folks, but I wanted this to go out before I took a true break from the story; I also wish to apologize for the lack of any action thus far but I can assure you it will be coming soon. Until then...

See ya next game!


	9. Medical Emergency

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! I am back from my break and am ready to start on the new chapter, but before we get there... Um...

Looks like the reveal was um... a little bit less than expected for quite a few of you, and... I just wanna say...

Whoops? XD

But seriously, I need to get some things out because there has been complaints that people brought up in regards to not only Dichro but about the chapter length in general (and I know it's only because people wanna read more, but you'll understand why I'm bringing this up). I wanted to make this ABSOLUTELY clear that Dichro's personality and reactions are more or less based on my OWN personality and reactions - that what he does in the story is what I, personally, would do. Now before you go saying "Then it's a self-insert, you jack $$; don't jerk us along like that!" just let me explain; he might have MY personality and feelings, but THAT is where the similarities end. He has his own history, his own family, his own name, and his own interests. Regardless of this, if you call his personality cliche or bland then that's essentially the same thing as calling me cliche or bland. And in response, I only have these words to say, and am not trying to be rude by saying them; "Don't like it? Don't read it."

That's it - plain and simple; I don't like to be forced to do something I don't want to do, even if it's myself forcing me, so I know others don't like it as well. Don't leave a review that says how bad a character is without leaving some form of criticism or suggestion on how to fix it (i.e. telling me what NOT to do without telling me what TO do which makes me a better writer in general), don't try to bully or push me into doing something I don't want to do because plain and simple I am not 'forcing' you to read this; I am not 'forcing' you to say something about it. I only write what I would enjoy reading, as I stated in the last chapter, and if that makes me 'wrong' then I don't want to ever be right.

With that rant out of the way, let's get to the 'other complaint' which really isn't so much a complaint as it is just people wanting to read more of the story... I'm doing this to keep an approximate five thousand word count per chapter limit because my mind gets very empty when I go too long into a chapter - though these long AN's don't help much... In fact, the reason some parts of chapters feel rushed is because those were points where I ran out of ideas or where I was struggling to write something. I will only extend that limit IF and ONLY if I feel it is necessary to get a certain scene/event done by the chapter's end. While I'm not exactly 'new' to writing fanfiction, I'm not a seasoned vet or anything by ANY stretch of the imagination... Regardless, I apologize to anyone I may have offended with any of the above rants and hope you do enjoy the story regardless...

As for the questions... there's quite a few but one thing has 'bugged' me for a while now... And I'm not just making a pun out of that, either. XD

Like seriously, there's only ONE other known ant faunus OC?! That's just... Insane! I figured there would be more since a SCORPION faunus was a confirmed character in the show; and just about anyone who studied biology and taxonimy knows that a scorpion falls under the classification of an insect at the least. I was shocked when quite a few of you, even my 'betas', said that Dichro was a first. Thankfully, one of you proved them wrong, so thank you Daozong. XD

With that out of the way, let's get the questions done.

Ride player hary, in just a few more chapters, they WILL meet so just hold your horses... And I don't mean your horse faunus either. XD

Fiction Fan 369, I think we have a little more of a serious problem than explaining his powers; like an UNCONSCIOUS DICHRO and an UNGUARDED GGD! Joking aside, he will be explaining them soon enough.

Cartoon Savior, he won't "immediately" have a plan ready, but he will eventually by the time he meets them. Also, you might have a reason for that feeling.

The Mind Master, I have to sadly say no to the twins using Mighty XX, but I will not say anything else for fear of spoiling it. As for Kamen OP as hell Rider Chronus and the Ride Players... the person that gets the gashat WILL transform into both, though not in THAT order. Also... Ha ha... Guess I'm not the only one who made a Harry Potter reference in this story now. XD

Card Dealer, it won't be obvious but you will eventually know what that paradox is. Just... Not until halfway into the story.

Neo Raida, he will be a middle ground for both a trainer and a normal teen.

With those out of the way, let's begin with the chapter!

Oh, and Disclaimer; I own nothing but Dichro Spectrum/Steven Richardson.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Yang could see the shock on the dichromatic boy's face as Blake had told him that he was an Ant Faunus and knew full well there was something wrong. What's more, she could almost 'feel' the shock as if it were her own but pushed it aside thinking that it was the shock of seeing the young man trying to cut off a part of his body. She had to draw the line and tell him what a mistake he was making... Too bad it turned out to be too blunt even for her.

"You weren't about to cut off hair... You were about to cut off your antennae!" she practically cried out. His shock reached it's peak before his eyes rolled upward as he fell onto the floor limp and nearly lifeless - the only signs of life coming off him was the slow rising and falling of his chest. "DICHRO!" both girls yelled out as they ran to the boy's body, Blake out of shock and Yang out of fear when the feeling of shock vanished and was replaced with what she felt was a void; as if something had been ripped out of her. Blake had already begun to check for a pulse before trying to shake him awake as she pulled him to a sitting position. Weiss had ran over just before Yang had spoken up, trying to see what all the commotion was for just a little haircut; only to see the end results of an unconscious boy. The heiress was trying to see what was wrong when Ruby came running into the room. Until that point, she had been speaking with Jaune and Pyrrha about trying to find a suitable place for Dichro to sleep when she suddenly heard her sister cry out that very name. When she saw the unconscious boy, her immediate question was, "What happened?!"

Yang was too distracted by what she was experiencing to explain as she stumbled on her words. Noticing this, her partner answered for her, "We found out Dichro was trying to cut off his antennae and tried to stop him, but he legitimately believed that he was human from what his reactions were telling us. Once Yang let slip what he was about to do, he fainted on the spot."

"I'd faint, too, if I were told I was about to cut off the equivalent of a nose or an eye," coined the heiress as she looked at the scene before her. Blake and Ruby glared at her in a cross between annoyance and anger before she held her hands up in defense and said, "What? I'm being honest here!"

"Doesn't matter," Ruby started, "We have to do something to help. I'll try to find a professor that can help; Blake, you and Yang take Dichro to the infirmary; Weiss, you tell Team JNPR what happened."

At hearing what Ruby had planned, Yang immediately snapped out of her trance and looked her baby sister in the eye. "Ruby, I'm not so sure him going to the infirmary is a good idea," she said as she turned back to the unconscious boy, "Remember what happened yesterday when we tried to get him there?"

"We don't have much of a choice," Ruby interjected, "We can't just leave him there like this."

"Fine, but I'm not lettin' him outta my sight." Nodding at her sister's words, Ruby proceeded to take out her scroll and tried to call one of the teachers as Yang scooped up Dichro in her arms and tried to calmly walk out the door. What ended up happening was her going out of the door in a jog with her partner right behind her and Ruby's own partner knocking on the door of Team JNPR's room as well; whether she liked it or not, Dichro was still both Teams' leaders and, as such, had to take Ruby's suggestion seriously. As this happened, the Reaper girl managed to contact one of the professors; the image of a portly, middle aged man with gray hair and a rather large gray mustache appeared as a deep voice replied, "My word... Hello? Is something the matter?"

"Yes, professor," Ruby immediately answered, "We have someone on his way to the infirmary right now; he suddenly fainted and my sister is carrying him there now." She looked out the door before continuing, "I don't know what exactly happened, sir, but there might be something wrong."

"Yes, well... This is Ms. Rose, correct?" the man inquired. As soon as she confirmed it was her, he continued, "Then fear not, Ms. Rose, I'll let Professor Ozpin know what's going on." With that, the line went dead with a click as the man hung up in a hurry. Ruby, now finished with her objective, made a beeline for the infirmary to try and follow her sister and Blake.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha were staring at the door, where Ruby had ran out after hearing a cry of some kind, wondering just what was going on. Ren was trying to keep his long-time friend from invading the other room when the Schnee Heiress herself came up to them. Seeing Weiss, of all people, enter their room was a shock to the members of Team JNPR; they didn't think she would have a reason to be in there, yet she was about to give them one regardless.

"Hey, uh, what's going on?" Jaune asked as she came in. Her reply came after she slipped a small glare at the blond boy. "Something happened with Dichro..." she began to explain, initially annoyed, but as she spoke her concern grew. "I'm not sure what, but, if I had to guess, it would seem our so-called 'leader' nearly did something that would have harmed himself... Very badly, I might add." When asked what that was by the pink-loving hammer-wielder, Weiss simply said, "He tried to cut off his antennae..."

"WHAT!?" was the collective response of team JNPR.

"I don't understand..." Pyrrha in her unnerved confusion stated.

"Turns out... He's an Ant Faunus," the heiress answered before continuing, "Why he didn't tell us is more than likely the same reason he tried to cut his antennae if what Blake said is true; he actually didn't know." This was when Jaune interjected as he waved his arms out in front of him in a stopping motion and said, "Whoa whoa wait, time out! Are you saying he didn't know he was a Faunus?! How does that even happen?!"

"If I had to guess, it must have something to do with his upbringing... " Ren speculated as his hand went to his chin with his index and thumb around it, "Maybe Faunus are that frowned upon in his society that even recognizing them was effectively breaking some form of social law?"

Nora joined in the conversation at this point by practically shouting, "Or maybe they never even heard of Faunus where he's from!?"

"That's impossible, you'd have to meet at least one Faunus in your lifetime," Weiss interjected but was soon rebutted by Ren. "That only applies within the four kingdoms, Weiss; who knows what goes on outside them? Maybe Faunus don't exist or maybe Faunus are so integrated into their society that people don't even recognize them without the obvious features?"

"Or perhaps they have stricter standards of what consists of a Faunus? Look at Dichro, did anyone here think he was one at first glance?" Pyrrha added as she looked at the room's occupants, all of which shook their heads in a negative save for Weiss. "While I didn't really consider him being a Faunus at first... You weren't on the Bullhead with my team and him when he showed off one of his species' telltale signs - his strength." the snow-haired girl said, "He bent the armrest of a solid metal seat - and he didn't even have his aura activated until earlier today!" Team JNPR simply stared at her in shock. Each of them thought about different things; Nora concerned about Yang, Pyrrha in concern for Team RWBY as a whole, Ren in bemusement as he tried to put the pieces together, and Jaune simply trying to keep track of everything; as they looked at each other before Jaune finally spoke up, "Listen, we need to be sure about this, so... I suggest we go on down there ourselves and find out from the horse's mouth - er... So to speak..."

"I already planned on that after I told you about what happened," Weiss stated before she turned to leave; this resulted in the rest of Team JNPR following her as they silently agreed that answers were necessary.

* * *

)-Later-(

)-At the Infirmary-(

* * *

Dichro's unconscious form rested upon one of the divided beds with Blake and Ruby sitting on either side of him, staring at a rather... peculiar sight...

Just beyond the foot of the bed, pacing back and forth in inapt worry, was Yang. As she paced back and forth between the dividers surrounding the space's occupant, multiple emotions were going through her head; the least of which were anxiety, fear, confusion, and frustration. The thoughts of this morning combined with the events that just transpired had her brain going into full steam ahead as she tried to sort out what was going on. Ruby, in fear of her sister pushing herself too far, tried to speak up, "Yang, please... You need to calm down and rest; all this pacing isn't doing any good for anyone, least of all Dichro."

"Calm down?" Yang repeated in frustration before turning on her own sister, "Ruby, I can't calm down! Ever since this morning, weird things have been happening to me! First, when I unlocked his aura, there was this like string thing comin' out of our chests before it vanished; then whenever he got called short or somethin', I could feel how embarrassed or angry he was!" This had both girls wide-eyed in shock but for different reasons; Ruby in awe that her sister had unlocked his aura and Blake in horror due to knowing what was causing that. Before either girl could request it, Yang was already continuing her tirade, "THEN we find out Dichro was trying to cut his antennae AFTER we figured out he was an Ant Faunus, and when we tell him; he faints! And when he does, I felt like..."

"Like a piece of you was ripped out of your very soul, Ms. Xiao Long?" a fourth voice interrupted her.

All three girls jumped at the voice though visibly relaxed when they saw it was Ozpin, holding a mug of coffee in one hand and his cane in the other. Yang was the first to speak up as she asked, "Professor Ozpin? What brings you down here?"

"I heard about what happened with Dichro from Professor Port," said the headmaster as he paused to sip some of his caffeine-heavy beverage before continuing, "Also, before you ask, I was here when you so politely told your sister that you 'can't calm down'. Normally, I would have reprimanded you on your behavior, but, due to the condition you are in, I am more than willing to turn a blind eye to you in this case."

"Condition?" Ruby and Yang both repeated before the red-caped reaper went wide-eyed in shock. She turned her sights on Yang in a glare before asking, "Yang... Are you pregnant or something?"

Sputtering over her words, Yang looked at her sister in shock before yelling, "RUBY! Why would you ask that?!" Poor Blake couldn't handle it as she was barely holding back her giggles at her partner's distress. "Sorry, sis; that was the first thing that hit my mind," was Ruby's reply before the headmaster immediately cleared his throat loudly to catch the attention of the young girls before he spoke.

"While that is not the condition that I was referring to," he began with his face still ever so stoic, but underneath he was grinning at the sight of at least 3 members of team RWBY getting along, as he continued to explain, "what Yang currently has can potentially lead to a similar result should both parties allow for it." As the sisters looked at Ozpin in confusion, Blake looked down in embarrassment as she could have avoided all this if she had just opened her mouth sooner. When asked what he meant by Yang, the headmaster replied, "Why, the fact that you have a soulbond of course."

"I have a whuh?" Yang asked, utterly confounded by what he just said. His eyebrow quirked upwards as he looked at her and asked, "You've never heard of a soulbond before?" The only reply he got from Yang was a negative shake of her head which Ruby clarified by saying, "Sorry, professor, but dad... didn't really explain all of this when he and Uncle Crow explained aura to us before attending Signal..."

The headmaster nodded in understanding as he looked to Yang and began his exposition, "To begin with, a soulbond is a rare phenomenon that happens when a person's aura is unlocked through the now commonplace ritual. When this occurs, a single thread materializes between the affected parties, connecting to their chests. The effects brought on by this bond varies depending on the color of the thread. To current experts' knowledge, there are four colors; Pink, Red, Green and Gold. A pink thread represents familial relations, is the most common form of soulbond, and will only form if the bondmates are family; most commonly directly. This bond allows relatives to find one another easier and allows for simpler interpretations of one another's feelings. A red thread represents rivalry, is rarer than the pink bond, and only forms between people with competitive personalities. This bond allows for the overall power that one learns to increase quite immensely until they catch up with their bondmate or rival. A green thread represents unparalleled friendship and is the second most rare type of bond despite the only condition being that those with this bond share no form of familial relations; this means too this day no family members have achieved a green bond. This bond allows for the passive and active ability to read one another's minds; allowing for communication even across vast distances. All of these bonds, however, share a downside... Should one of the bondmates die, it will leave a void in the soul of the surviving bondmate; they never are quite themselves again but they have not shown any suicidal tendencies."

Ruby listened on with rapt attention as Ozpin spoke while Blake simply looked at him in disbelief; she hadn't realized other forms of soulmates existed before now and only knew about the golden bond. Yang, meanwhile, stared in shock before she realized that he only mentioned three bonds just now. As she caught on to this, she inhaled before asking, "Professor... You only mentioned three bonds... What does the fourth one mean?"

Smiling softly in understanding, Ozpin nodded before answering her question, "Ah, yes... the Golden Bond and the rarest bond of all... This kind of bond can, quite literally, happen to anyone, yet is so rare that only one set of bondmates from each kingdom at any time has been recorded at any given time. Anyone with this type of bond are typically called 'Golden Couples' for a reason. While it was not often to happen, gold bonds tend to lead to easier dating and possibly even marriage by allowing their bondmates to feel more at home and comfortable with one another. The bond itself actually gives the ability for the bondmates to feel each others' emotions and, like the pink bond, allow them to find each other no matter where they are."

After taking a sip of his coffee, his face returned to being stoic as he spoke again, "There is, however, a much greater drawback to this bond than any other. When one bondmate is unconscious, not asleep, the other experiences what the other types of bonds suffer should their bondmates die. If a golden bondmate dies, however, the survivor's soul will effectively be destroyed; leaving them as nothing more than a shell of their former selves incapable of feeling any emotion whatsoever..." When he finished this, all three girls paled in horror at the thought of no longer being able to feel any kind of emotion at all, though Yang's mind quickly went from herself being doomed to such a fate to the unconscious boy potentially succumbing to such a consequence; the thought itself felt heavier and more dire than if it was her suffering it. The headmaster's voice brought her attention back to the topic at hand as he spoke once more.

"The pink and green bonds can be cut at any time by either bondmate but can never be reformed ever again; doing so will reduce the consequence of a bondmate dying, though it applies the portion that is left over immediately after being cut. The red bond is the only bond that cannot be cut by either bondmate, and the gold bond can only be cut by the bondmate that had their aura unlocked during the bond's formation; that being said, it is also the only bond that can reform at any given time with the aid of patience and constant contact with their bondmates. When a golden bond is cut, both bondmates will respond as if the other had died."

That gave the blonde brawler some relief as she sighed. "Then... I'm assumin' you know which one I got, right?" she asked the headmaster who nodded. Ruby immediately jumped up from her seat and briskly walked up to her sister. "Yang, what's going on? When did you get a soulbond? And why Dichro?" the reaper asked her older sister in concern. Blake tried to field for this one but was interrupted by the door into the infirmary opening up; revealing the Schnee Heiress and Team JNPR. The new visitors looked, for the most part, nonplussed as they each tried to gauge what was going on before Jaune spoke first asking, "Did... did we come at a bad time?"

Ozpin shook his head as he eyed Team JNPR and the missing member of Team RWBY before replying, "No, as a matter of fact, you're right on time... One of the medical staff should be coming out with the results of some blood work they did." Sure enough, a man with a white coat and beige shirt and pants came out of the door opposite to the one the new visitors came through. As the man approached, his expression was similar to that of Ozpin's save that it was more tiring; as if the man had been thinking too much, before holding up the clipboard he had in his arm.

"Mr. Spectrum will eventually make a full recovery," the doctor started to explain, "but his tests, while actually typical for humans, are incredibly off for a Faunus; especially one as rare a breed as he is."

"So he really is an Ant Faunus?" Pyrrha asked in concern. The doctor nodded before continuing.

"His glucose levels are dangerously low as well as his cholesterol," he stated as he looked at the clipboard, "His body has been malnourished, dehydrated, and running on empty for quite some time and needs to restore his fats and blood sugars soon."

At hearing this, everyone except Ozpin stared at the doctor in shock. Yang, however, was the first to ask how they could do anything to help with that. To this, the doctor stated, "As a doctor, what I'm about to suggest goes against everything medical science has ever stood for... But he needs to go on a high fat, high sugar diet. Make sure he gets as many proteins and eats as much fatty foods and sweets as he can; even if he says he's full, make sure he finishes it."

"Why should we do that?" Blake asked, "We'll just be forcing him to get sick, won't we?"

The man smiled at Blake's observation before shaking his head and replying, "Actually not so. You see, Ant Faunus aren't like normal Faunus in that they don't experience hunger like the rest of us." As he said 'rest of us', Blake took note of the not-so-hidden Labrador tail that was jutting out from between the coat's tails and thought, 'At least there's someone who won't be biased against him here.'

"That being said, he'll need about 5 or 6 small meals a day just to get his metabolism kick-started back up," the doctor began again, "I'd recommend a few servings of super fatty foods like bacon and, say, a two inch width slice of cake just to start off for an example."

"Oh, before I forget, doc," Yang interjected as she asked, "you mind me askin' why he fainted like he did?"

The man simply nodded before answering, "The stress of the shock, combined with the malnourishment of his body, is what caused his body to essentially shut down until it can recover, which will be soon."

"Thank you for your discretion," the headmaster said, "But for now, we need you to disappear for the moment... Your patient here has iatrophobia if I remember correctly and would fall under duress if he spotted you." With this, the doctor nodded before leaving the room where he came; setting the clipboard on the desk next to what used to be Ruby's seat as he did so.

Nora simply stared at their unconscious, impromptu leader for a second in a cross of pity and envy before speaking up. "Awww... I wanna have his diet plan..."

"Nora..." Ren started on her case, "You already have too much energy as is; you're not even allowed to have caffeine."

"Yang," Ruby called out to her big sister, who answered with a 'Yo,' before Ruby spoke up again, "You never answered my questions..."

"I..." Yang looked at her sister in distress before she sighed heavily in guilt. "He asked me to unlock his aura for him this morning... And... well..." she began before Blake interrupted and answered for her.

"Ruby, your sister had no idea she had a soulbond with him until after she told me about it... And I then told Nora about it because she refused to leave me alone until I answered her... Long story short, it was a complete accident on both parts; that's why she can feel what he feels, and apparently it can work both ways."

Ruby simply nodded despite visibly not being okay with this as she looked at her half-sib in concern. "Yang..." she started, "Please be careful next time you do this, okay?"

Nervously chuckling, Yang donned a lop-sided grin as she scratched the back of her head before replying, "Don'cha worry about that, Rubes... That was a one-time thing and I won't be doin' that again." With that, she was glomped by her baby sister in a massive hug for someone her size was capable of. Ren had his hand on his chin looking at Dichro's unconscious form before thinking aloud, "That explains all that, but there's still one thing that's been bothering me; why did Dichro not know he was a Faunus?" That question got everyone but Ozpin's attention and got them to thinking about possible reasons why. They looked to said headmaster for an answer, only for him to shake his head in a negative as he said, "That is for Dichro to disclose... Not me."

"Either way," Weiss said as she glared at the dichromatic boy, "We're not leaving here without answers... And he has a lot of questions to answer." Both teams resumed their own musings on what was going on.

Any further train of thoughts on the matter vanished as a soft groan cut through the short silence.

* * *

xXx

* * *

Finally, the chapter is done and I can work on the next one. That being said, I'm sorry that, once again, there is no action in this chapter... I hope you still enjoy it for I will do my best to make a training scene in the next chapter. Until then...

See ya next game!


	10. Getting Acquainted

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! First off, I want to personally thank each and every one of you for the safe wishes. I'm finally back, the storm is dissipated and we're 'mostly' safe.

That also means it's back to writing chapters for the Paradox of Remnant! Hurray!

But before we get to that, we need to start off with the questions.

Raidentensho, first off; as I said, Dichro/Steven is his own person but only shares my personality/reactions. Second, his semblance will be a bit more... eternal... than just summoning dead enemies. Lastly, he will have his own mechshift weapon which will be covered later on; hopefully the next chapter if I can get to it.

Fiction Fan 369, the reason Dichro survived is the same reason that he is even in Remnant to begin with; hence the title of the story.

Demons Anarchy of Pride, I plan for a special filler involving Graphite, but, much like the riders, none of the cannon Bugsters will make an appearance in the main story.

jmasta32, Perfect Knockout will be a thing but you need to be patient.

And finally, a disclaimer: I own nothing but Dichro/Steven.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-First Person-(

* * *

Numb...

Tired...

Drained...

That's how I felt as I started to come to...

I groaned as a piercing light hit my partially opened eyes... It was stinging so badly that I tried to cover my eyes with a hand, yet the light still came through. I tried to say "Someone turn off the light," yet my mouth fumbled on the words as I slowly regained consciousness. When my eyes finally got used to the light and the pain stopped, I noticed a few blurred figures off in the distance and a few less than blurry ones. What felt like a wave of relief washed over me, yet I was still too incoherent to recognize it; what I did recognize, though, was a ball of gold and light tan standing beside me. "Yang?" I called out, the ball nodding her 'head'. I rubbed my eyes with the balls of both hands trying to clear the water and sleep from them before I tried to sit up; only to be sat up by the very person I had recognized off the bat. Confusion ran rampant through me as the last thing I remembered was being told that I was an Ant Faunus and that I was about to cut off a body part instead of hair... At first, I thought that was a dream... But then I found myself floating in darkness before I was swimming in a bowl of milk or cream or something as a green tiger with orange stripes was lapping it up, so I kinda knew when the actual dream started. That still left the two questions that were ringing through my head.

"Where am I? And what happened?" As I asked this, I felt unease rush through me before looking up at Yang and then at my surroundings; my fear was starting to kick in as I recognized where I was - the infirmary. My breathing hastened in pace as I felt panic start to sink in, though at the time I thought it was mine. Almost immediately, a hand rested on my shoulder but I tried to squirm out of it before arms wrapped around mine. "It's alright," I heard Yang say; somehow this was calming me down as she continued, "No one is here to hurt you. You can relax." My breathing slowed down as I calmed down completely before looking to her and nodded.

"Thanks... Sorry about that..." I apologized.

After some time of just staying there in her arms, I figured she'd let go from being uncomfortable or uneasy as she is still surrounded by her peers, yet she still hadn't - even after I had everything explained to me; about the soulbond I now shared with Yang by Blake, about what was going to happen with my eating habits by Ozpin, and having Nora and to some degree Ruby complain about it being unfair... I was so not looking forward to this.

"So let me get this right..." I started off, "I'm supposed to do the exact opposite of what I've known all my life... because I'm not a human?"

"Essentially, yes," was Ozpin's reply. I merely shook my head as I looked at Yang who smiled nervously as she continued to hold me. Just as I was about to ask if she wanted to let go, Ren spoke up and asked, "Wait a moment... Do Faunus exist where you're from? And if so, what entails physically being considered one?"

I was feeling very reluctant to answer that by saying "Faunus don't exist where I'm from" simply because that would cause too wide of a panic, and that any other answer I could give would only bring about dissent against me by everyone except Ozpin... So I had to give an answer that would make it sound like I was just simply being ignorant. "Where I come from," I began my exposition, "a Faunus is considered any person with mammalian traits such as cat ears, bull horns, etcetera."

Everyone, except the Dumbledore of Remnant, stared at me in what I assumed was disbelief; especially since I could feel Yang's disbelief as she looked down at me wide-eyed. Blake, however, was the first one to actually voice her discontent at this as she said, "H-How can people be so ignorant?!"

Speaking of ignorant, I was trying to feign confusion as I looked to her with a raised eyebrow. "Whatcha mean? Isn't that what normally consists of a Faunus?" I asked. I could feel something akin to distrust coming from Yang as Blake shook her head. "That's only the most common Faunus," she said, "There are other different kinds from avians to reptilians and even insectoids like you. How is it your home's government can get away with that, I'll never know." I could feel the guilt of lying to everyone forming in me, but it was the only way I knew to keep them as in the dark as possible; though Yang would now be the hardest to keep all this a secret from because of our bond... 'I just hope she will understand why I have to do this,' I thought to myself in remorse.

Yang must have felt it as she tightened her hold on me slightly before speaking up, "I think we need to drop this subject for another time..." She let go slowly and as I looked at her, she gave a small smirk as she held her nose. "Besides, you need some cleanin' up; missing clothes or not," she said as if trying to sound mean, but I could feel her joy at trying to be playful and smiled regardless.

"Yeah, something tells me I'm gonna have a 'bath' time if I don't get washed up." I joked. Everyone, even Ozpin, groaned at this; Yang herself, however, was for a different reason - she wanted in on this action. "Oh why do you have to 'soap' up all the fun?" she asked, which prompted everyone but Ozpin and myself to groan again. I felt a bit of disappointment from both her and myself at this one and said, "Girl, that was bad, even for you..."

"I know..." she said before smiling again, "I'd 'lather' avoid bath jokes." That got me to laughing and almost falling off the bed if not for her arms catching me. "Whoa, I think that one was TOO much," she stated as she set me on the floor.

Chuckling, I nodded at her and made for the door to try and leave when Ozpin coughed a little trying to nab my attention; and it worked as I looked up at him. "There is still the matter of discovering exactly what you are capable of, Mr. Spectrum," he said before he took a swig of that coffee of his before speaking up once more, "Both as Dichro Spectrum, and as Kamen Rider Paradox."

"Um, actually," I interrupted, "It's only pronounced that but it's really spelled P-A-R-A-Hyphen-D-X. And don't bother asking why; I didn't make the name up - I'm just following the rules."

With that, Ozpin nodded solemnly and announced, "After classes tomorrow, the amphitheater will be closed off to everyone except the nine of you, Professor Goodwitch, and I. We will only be there to examine your fighting styles both as individuals and as teams." Everyone present nodded their agreement to the conditions but one thing bothered me...

"Uno problema..." I began, "I don't have a mechshift weapon... Or a weapon at all except the GGD, for that matter."

"That can be rectified over the course of the weekend," the headmaster replied, "I'll have one of the second year teams aid you in your task if you feel it is necessary." Knowing what team he would most likely sic' on me to do that, I reluctantly nodded. With that, he simply dismissed us to return to our dorms and left.

* * *

)-The Next Day-(

* * *

While I didn't get to sleep on a bed last night; still had to sleep out in the hallway just to keep out of everyone's way much to Ruby's protests, I felt a LOT better than I did before having my first bath in almost five days. The only downside? I had locked myself in the bathroom, towel wrapped around my waist, until someone went and cleaned my clothes as I held the GGD in my hand. I wasn't going to trust anyone to even touch it. When the time for classes actually came, the professors were kind enough to excuse me for my lack of uniform due to my... ahem... diminutive stature... Heaven knows they weren't really expecting someone who was as tall as a twelve or thirteen year old to be attending the school, despite me being 16...

And before we drop the topic of classes, the actually classes themselves were... actually pretty standard in terms of effectiveness. And by that, I mean we simply had to listen to lectures for majority of the time; of which I nearly fell asleep during four of them. I felt pretty disappointed not only in the actual classes but in myself as well each time it happened; and each time it happened, Yang was right there at the end of class to give me a pat on the back to try and cheer me up before rushing off to her next class. I knew she was getting bored of them as well, though; I could feel her boredom just like it was my own... Ever since I had learned about the soulbond that Yang and I share, I started feeling a sort of self-doubt about whether this was a good thing or not. Effectively, if I die I'm taking her soul with me and leaving the body alive and behind - something I'm not too keen on. If she dies on me I deserve whatever I get, but I don't think I could handle even making my worst enemy go through that. Still, it has it's benefits I guess... Like finding out where I need to go if I ever get lost... Which is quite literally around EVERY corner. Lunch came and went... It was um... Eventful... Seeing everyone try to shove cake down my throat, however, wasn't the best course to take... The reason they had to hold me down, though, was plain and simple.

I... Hate! Sweets...

The only reason I ate those berries during my time in the Emerald Forest was because they were the 'only' food source I had access to; if I had another choice, I would have avoided the berries and just stayed in the bush as a shelter. Back on track, if it wasn't for Ruby's suggestion of putting fire dust on everything I found too sweet, I'd have probably had every single sugary sweet melted from my gaze alone... I'll be honest, though, I didn't think it was actually safe to consume dust of any kind like that, but once I did I almost fell in love with it; now I know how to fix up candies from now on!

The rest of the day continued as I said until classes were finally over and the P.A. system asked for both Teams RWBY and JNPR to the now emptied amphitheater. When we arrived, I noticed Ozpin and Glynda right off the bat in front of the door along with Professor Port standing next to the headmaster and a man with messy green hair and disheveled clothes wearing Full Moon glasses that I had no idea how he could see through them standing next to Goodwitch; Professor Oobleck at his oddest, everyone.

"Good, everyone is here," Ozpin began before I interrupted by calling out "Excuse me a moment." I pointed to Oobleck and Port before asking, "Do they know about my you-know-what?"

"Not yet, they don't, but I feel it will be necessary for them to study it as well due to their involvement as your professors," the headmaster explained. Though I didn't like it, I agreed with the logic of the situation; they would need to know eventually - just like Yang would need to know the truth. The professors motioned for all of us to enter the chamber and locked the doors behind us once we did. Ozpin quickly strode over and on to the stage before turning to the collective teams.

"For this first exhibition," he began, "we will be pairing members of each team against members of the other team for two on two combat. With this, Mr. Spectrum will be able to discern who is capable of what before deciding his opponents for all three forms as well as helping him discern a potential leader for Team JNPR. Ms. Rose and Ms. Schnee will be sparring against Mr. Arc and Ms. Nikos; Ms. Valkyrie and Mr. Ren will be sparring against Ms. Xiao Long and Ms. Belladonna."

"Yeah, this won't end well," I interjected. When asked why that is by Professor Port, I simply replied, "Because when it comes to Jaune's fighting skills, pitting him against Ruby and Weiss is like feeding a small child to a pack of rabid wolves. While I don't doubt that Pyrrha on her own COULD defeat both girls, it's her ability to protect Jaune that I reserve my doubts for."

"Then what do you propose, Mr. Spectrum?" Glynda asked. I put a finger to my chin and closed my eyes in thought before finally speaking. "A 2 on 1 handicap... Jaune will be allowed to take both girls on his own PROVIDED that they are barred from using their semblance at any given time; afterall, like me, he doesn't even have a semblance yet so his sparring partners would need to be equally fair - though I doubt his opponents in the future will be as forgiving, he needs to be brought into this one step at a time."

"While those terms, under normal circumstances, are more than agreeable," Professor Oobleck stated, "I'm afraid that they will not be held to those conditions."

"Alright, but if he dies; you're planning the funeral and telling his parents," I replied shrugging my shoulders as the teams separated into their respective matches.

* * *

)-With JP and RW-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Jaune and Pyrrha stood next to each other and across from Ruby and Weiss on the far left side of the stage. Both pairs of partners faced each other and nodded once before they drew their respective weapons with Jaune being the slowest and most reluctant as he unsheathed his sword and brought his shield up. "So uh... Any chance you girls would go easy on me?" he asked in vain hope that they would be merciful to him.

Ruby hummed as she brought a finger to her chin and looked up slightly as she pretended to think on it before turning to the blond young man and smiling deviously and saying, "Mmmm... Nope."

Slumping his shoulders in defeat, he sighed exaggeratedly as he got into a traditional knight stance with his shield raised and his sword held low before saying, "Oh well, it was worth a shot." The partners stared each other down before the reaper girl vanished in a flurry of rose petals. The heiress simply glanced at where her partner used to be before doing a double take and stomping a foot on the floor of the stage in annoyance shouting, "Ruby, you are INSUFFERABLE!" As she had her small tantrum, to which Jaune and Pyrrha both stared at her flabbergasted, a red blur zipped behind the spartan huntress and struck her in the back before moving to Jaune in the same manner; this knocked both of them forward with Pyrrha recovering with a roll and her partner simply trying to stand upright again.

"Ohhhh, my back..." the poor boy groaned before noticing a glowing white diagram appearing beneath himself and Pyrrha. He quickly bolted to the girl and shoved her out of the way to stop her from getting caught in an explosion of ice. "Keep an eye on the ground," he warned her, "If you see one of those, consider it lava." Not quite getting the reference, the spartan merely nodded before standing upright with her back against her partner's. The red blur from earlier was now striking at every vantage point it could find from the top of their heads to the backs of their hands; only to be blocked by either a shield or a sword. Using an impact shot to increase her altitude, Ruby called out to her partner, "Weiss, split'em up!"

"Don't need to tell me twice," the heiress replied before summoning another glyph underneath both of their opponents, but this one being twice as large as the one before it. Both of them noticed this and tried to move out of the way, but only the Invincible Girl escaped it; the blond knight, however, got caught in the explosion with formed jagged edges of ice all around his legs, right forearm and left bicep - effectively trapping him in the pseudo sculpture.

"GAH! Geez, I'm stuck!" Jaune cried out in panic as he struggled to free himself to no avail, only to notice his partner was now trying to survive a flurry of red strikes to her back as she and the heiress were now fighting head to head; rapier clashing with sword as Pyrrha used her momentum to leap over Weiss when she anticipated Ruby's attack; he had to help her somehow, but all he could do in his current predicament was sit there and watch. 'Unless I do something,' he thought to himself, 'Pyrrha's done for. C'mon, Jaune, think!' That's when the idea struck him; he had to give her his sword in order to help her stand a chance. Jaune tried to focus all of his strength into freeing his right arm and was rewarded with the shattering of the ice surrounding it. "Pyrrha!" he called out before flinging his sword at her with the intent of letting her use it; instead, it spun straight at the girl, who ducked under it in time to see it hack off a good half of her ponytail and then slam hilt-first into Ruby's forehead with a loud and metallic thunk, knocking her over before slapping Weiss on top of her head with the flat of the blade and clattering on the floor. This was the distraction Pyrrha needed as she slammed her shield into the heiress before turning to her trapped partner.

He simply shrugged his free arm as he said, "Er, sorry about that - was meaning to give you my sword, not a haircut..."

She simply smiled at him before taking aim with Miló as she cocked the weapon back, changed it into it's javelin form, and warned him, "Stay still, Jaune; I'll have you out of there." She threw the javelin forward as it's rocket-propelled trajectory nailed the ice at the center and shattered the entire structure, freeing him as he fell to the ground with a yelp.

As this was going on, a certain dichromatic boy couldn't help but slap his face and smear his hand down it in frustration that he just unintentionally and indirectly made yet another change in this world's history due to him being a 'judge'.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-With WB and NR-(

* * *

Blake simply drew Gambol Shroud out of it's sheath before turning it into it's pistol form before eyeing her opponents up cautiously with Ren doing similar as he drew his twin weapons from their holsters on his belt. Yang, however, was busy conversing with Nora as she activated her gauntlets.

"So who do you think's gonna win?" she asked the pink loving hammer thrower who simply shrugged in response. "Well then," the blonde brawler started to taunt, "This is gonna be a piece of cake."

"You mean 'a piece of pancake'?" Nora asked, giggling at her own joke.

"Meh, I'm more of a waffle person," Yang replied nonchalantly. This made Nora freeze up in wide-eyed shock and her partner look between the two out of visible fear. The girl's shock was replaced with anger with each word she spoke as she asked, "What did you say?"

"Uh oh..." were the only words Yang could get out of her mouth before she had to duck a close shave from Magnhild; her sudden fear of the girl overriding the anger at having lost a few locks of hair just now as she made a quick dash to get away from the girl using her gauntlets to further push her momentum.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU DIRTY WAFFLE LOVER!" Nora cried out as she ran after the taller girl. The perplexed cat faunus simply looked on in confusion as she tried to make sense of the situation before Ren called out to her. "Blake, I need your help," he quickly pleaded to her, "When Nora gets like this, she tends to lose herself so I need you to find a way to restrain her while I snap her out of it." She only nodded as she ran after the carrot-topped girl who kept swinging at, and missing, Yang who kept running and dodging her attacks trying to calm the girl down and failing.

When she got close enough, Black threw her weapon around one of Nora's ankles and pulled as hard as she could, causing the girl to slip and face-plant into the stage floor and Ren to catch up to her, before pulling a small-ish jar out of his pocket; the jar itself had something folded inside of it with a label on it that read " _In case of Angry Nora, open lid._ " He opened the lid and pulled out the contents, which unfolded into a whole pancake, and held it up to the girl who sniffed it before sitting up and nabbing it from her friend. After giving it one final look, Nora finally gobbled down the fluffy round disk of sweetness with a brilliant smile on her face as Ren sighed in relief. Yang looked at the two and nervously smiled before saying, "Well... that was a thing... How about we just call it a draw and forget this ever happened?" Nora looked up at Yang after finishing her pancake and cocked her head to the side as she asked, "Forget what ever happened?"

"Exactly," the blonde brawler replied before suddenly feeling a wave of frustration washing over her and looked at the cause of it to see Dichro in the middle of a face-palm. She looked in the direction her bondmate was looking at the time and found out why he suddenly felt annoyed; if she had to guess, Jaune must have given Pyrrha an accidental haircut judging from her now shorter than half ponytail.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I couldn't take it... I had to stop the match before things got even worse. I looked over to the professors and asked, "Can we end this; I've picked out my opponents...?" Ozpin simply nodded and looked to be ready to speak before I cupped my hands to either side of my mouth and shouted as loud as my lungs could carry my voice.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S ENOUGH!"

That broke the combatants up as Ruby tripped with Pyrrha and Weiss flinching and Jaune jumping in shock before he tried to clean his ear out... 'Smooth move, idiot,' I scolded myself before drawing everyone's attention to me and saying, "I've picked out not only my opponents but who will potentially be the leader for Team JNPR and that leader is... Jaune Arc." They all looked shocked and were clearly about to congratulate him, but I held up my hand in a stopping motion. "Please note, however, that I chose him by the skin of his damned TEETH!" I shouted out before continuing, "When it comes to quick thinking and strategy making, his skills are bar-none one of the best I've seen, but his skills as a fighter on his own are nonexistent even by beginner's standards. As for my opponents... I have chosen Weiss Schnee to fight my human form... Sorry, Faunus form - still trying to get used to being called that."

Said heiress simply harrumphed as she crossed her arms; I think she was disappointed that she doesn't get to fight one of my Para-DX forms, but I can't quite tell...

"Pyrrha Nikos to fight my Puzzle Gamer form..."

Pyrrha simply nodded before Port butted-in and asked, "Puzzle Gamer form? What does he mean?" Ozpin simply laid his concerns aside as he said, "You will find out soon enough, Peter."

I nodded before I resumed calling out my opponents. "And my final opponent will be Yang Xiao Long against my Fighter Gamer form," I announced, and felt a sense of pride coming from Yang and looked over to her to catch her at the end of a fist pump. That got me to chuckling a little before I turned back to Jaune. "To start off, however, I will need to borrow a weapon as I don't have one myself," I said as I walked up to the ditzy knight before asking, "May I borrow yours, Jaune, and show you just how you can really use it to your advantage?"

He simply nodded as he handed me Crocea Mors and left the stage with the others in tow, except for Weiss who simply looked on at them leaving the stage before staring me down. "You do realize you just signed your own death warrant, right?" she asked me in an icy tone as she got into her traditional fencing stance. I simply shrugged as I adjusted the shield so that the bottom was pointed in the direction my fist was before replying, "Hey, at least you're not going against Para-DX, so that's a win." I banged the flat of the blade against the shield a couple of times in a taunt before I held the shield up in a blocking position with the sword resting on top of it and pointing downward slightly. The heiress fell for it as she used her glyphs to dash straight at me. Feigning an attack, she quickly changed directions to try and strike at my upper back, but I adjusted the shield enough to pass it over my head and rest it on my shoulder before I felt the tell-tale pressure of the impact from her weapon hitting the shield. As if she were changing tactics, I saw her move around to my front and try to make a thrust with her rapier, but simply stepped back as I pushed the sword against her blade to further alter her momentum before landing a solid blow to her head as I used the shield as a giant boxing glove; though arguably I MAY have put TOO much force into the punch as she was sent careening through the back wall of the amphitheater.

"Stupid ant strength..." I whispered and chided myself before shouting out, "My bad!"

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

"My word!" Professor Port exclaimed as he looked on in shock, as did most of the students and staff present. The only one not surprised by this was Ozpin as he sipped his fresh mug of coffee. "That would be the 'legendary' Ant Faunus strength that Dichro just demonstrated," the headmaster said when he finished his drink.

The students, however, were more concerned for what may or may not have happened to Weiss. "Did you see that?!" Yang exclaimed as she punched the air, "He sent that Ice Queen flying!" Jaune cringed a little as he turned to the blonde brawler and spoke his own concerns, "Yeah... Straight through a wall..." Pyrrha added in her own two bits by saying, "That's at least four feet thick and made of concrete... Using YOUR shield, Jaune."

"I just hope Weiss is okay..." Ruby said in concern. Yang noticed this and felt a pang of worry from her bondmate before seeing him rushing to the debris. "She'll be fine," she assured her baby half-sister, "Look, Dichro's even checking on - oh c'mon, be serious..."

"What happened?" Blake asked. Yang turned to her in slight annoyance before answering, "I think Ms. Cold Shoulder just got light headed from the impact... I could feel Dichro trying to hold back his laughter just now."

"At least we know she's okay now... Right?" Blake once more spoke and got a nod in return from her partner.

Dichro came down carrying the unconscious heiress over his shoulders and set her down on one of the chairs before turning to the professors. "I guess there goes my Faunus demonstration..." he said as he shrugged his shoulders before lifting his jacket up a little and pulling out the familiar yellow-knobbed blue device and asking, "Now then... Which one you wanna see first?"

* * *

xXx

* * *

And there it is; the TRUE tenth chapter of Paradox of Remnant! Hope you enjoyed!

And until next time, guys...

See ya next game!


	11. Game Start!

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! This is going to sound bad, but the reason for my delay recently is because I've had IRL issues to deal with and had to take care of them. That being said, I see people actually enjoyed the previous chapter despite how short the actual fight scenes were, so I am hoping to rectify that with this chapter. Of course this means I will have to delay Dichro's weapon reveal for another chapter, but fret not; for I plan to unveil his Semblance in THIS chapter.

For now, though, on with the questions!

Raidentensho, I've never seen even a single episode of JoJo's Adventure and I can already tell you that, just from reading the wiki page, I can find no similarities to Aura and this "Hamon" thing... If anything, Aura is more akin to Dragon Ball Z's Ki so I MIGHT put more emphasis on that. As for Jaune's weapon... It won't need to be sharpened if Pyrrha's new hairdo is anything to go by, but Dichro WILL suggest adding on something to his shield.

Ride player hary... Not trying to sound mean or anything, but that would be a MAJOR d!ck move to pull after I have already set the grounds of what happens to BOTH people when a golden bondmate breaks said bond. I will NOT be doing that to the readers.

Chaos Lord Roscoso, Dichro will not use the gashats, but I won't spoil who will. XD

sandy... Look at how many stories there are where the main rider of a series appears as the main character or the main character gets the powers of the main rider. Now look at how many stories there are where a dark rider appears or someone uses the power of the dark rider for good. Quite the substantial difference, isn't it? That aside, I also love Para-DX's design and abilities over Ex-Aid's or any other rider's; even Muteki's. So it's a bit of a mix of wanting to do something "somewhat" different and personal preference.

The Mind Master, it's not that he doesn't trust them - it's more the fact that if he does tell them, the consequences could be disastrous. Remember, he's treating all of this like Doc Brown treats time travel; with excessive care until something naturally screws up on it's own.

And now, on with the chapter! Oop! One more thing to go over...

I own nothing but Dichro/Steven.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I really and TRULY hate myself right now. I just literally SOCKED the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company INTO a WALL! With a SINGLE PUNCH! I was praying to whatever deities were listening that she was alright after that as I ran to the debris that now covered where she landed. Lo and behold, I found a tuft of white hair and pushed some of the debris aside to see her laying there... With spirals in place of her eyes... Oh gods, don't make me laugh, please; this isn't the time...

Unfortunately... They were not merciful to me...

"Shomeone... FIRE... that Bullhead pilot'sh mom..." the girl said in an almost drunken slur. I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped my throat as I picked her up and laid her across my shoulders in a fireman carry. As I did this, I felt annoyance aimed at myself and realized that Yang was getting impatient... I quickly ran back to the seats and set her down on the nearest one. Once she was safe and sound, I turned to the professors and said, "I guess there goes my Faunus demonstration..." as I shrugged my shoulders. Truth be told, I was really looking forward to seeing what my normal form could do on it's own... but now?

I may as well be living in a world of cardboard if this keeps up.

I looked over to the professors, whom were all looking at me as if they were expecting either a terrorist attack or a magic trick, and reached my hand into my jacket to pull out the GGD. "Now then..." I started as I held the device up for everyone to see before I continued, "Which one you wanna see first?"

I immediately felt a lot of disappointment coming off Yang as she practically shouted, "Oh c'mon, why can't we just fight first? You got me fired up seeing what you did to Weiss!"

"Because," I said with a sigh as I turned to face her, "You're a participant. Therefore, neither you nor I have any say in whom I fight first." I noticed Blake and Ren looking at me curiously before Ren spoke up, "I'd say show us your most powerful form first, and then your most versatile."

"Right, but if they're one and the same," Blake started, "We need to see which form he's more familiar with first."

Jaune simply shrugged before asking, "Can we just kinda... skip the whole 'head turning' thing, though? That still gives me nightmares..." Nora nodded uncharacteristically timid. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn't say no to that face... So instead, I compromised.

"Alright..." I said with a sigh as I shrugged, "I won't transition between forms like I normally do, but only to demonstrate how I drop the armor. In a combat scenario where dropping my armor will mean I drop my guard and reveal my identity, I WILL be transitioning between armors like normal. Okay?" They both nodded reluctantly as I finished. I nodded back and turned to Blake and Ren before saying, "If you want my most powerful form, then that will depend on your definition of the word "power". If you want versatility, the choice is going to be Perfect Puzzle, which also has the greater potential - it's also the form I'm most familiar with." Everyone besides Yang and Pyrrha voiced their opinions though they were mostly in favor of seeing Perfect Puzzle first.

"Then that's that," I said as I turned and walked to the stage and pointed at it before saying, "Okay, Pyrrha, you heard'em - let's get this show on the road."

She followed suit and climbed up as I did before we turned to each other. She gave a small smile and a nod before she drew her weapons back out. I lifted the GGD up before grabbing the dial and turning it to the game I first became when I came to Remnant.

" **PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

I heard a couple of sounds of awe as the title screen appeared behind me; the moment it did, however, I could hear several shocked gasps as the power-ups filled the entire theater as the standby music and quote began to play.

" **What's the next stage?** "

Once the power-ups stopped forming, I wasted no time in transforming as I called out "Henshin!" before hitting the buttons with my free hand; triggering the confirmation sound as the device announced it's intentions.

" **DUAL UP!** "

The familiar hologram of the Puzzle Gamer Form appeared in front of me and swept over my body, covering me in that familiar blue armor that I have grown accustomed to wearing.

" **GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

With the transformation complete, I holstered the GGD immediately after it formed and cracked my knuckles. 'No more fooling around,' I thought to myself, psyching myself up for what I expected to be an excellent fight, 'It's game time!'

"Oooh, what're these things?" I heard someone ask and looked to see Nora pointing at one of the power-ups... 'Guess I'd better explain things first' I thought to myself before thinking it would be safer not to mention that there are differences between my GGD and the original one that I knew about.

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

The headmaster of Beacon stared at the scene in pure curiosity as he stared at the once dichromatic boy almost literally 'transform' into his Kamen Rider form... Sure he had seen him turn from it back to his default Faunus form; and possibly him taking down the Nevermore, but that was it. He hadn't seen anything else that the form was capable of. In short...

Ozpin was dumbstruck.

His fellow professors were more expressive of their surprise than he was, but he shared their sentiments. He needed to find out more about this... Kamen Rider Para-DX.

His musings where interrupted when Nora asked, "Oooh, what're these things?" pointing to one of the round discs that had formed all over the amphitheater. Dichro simply looked at her and replied, "Those are called Energy Items, or more commonly power-ups. I use those to enhance my own forms' capabilities. My Fighter Gamer form can only use one at a time and can't make them when I turn into it whereas my Puzzle Gamer form can make them and can use up to four at a time currently."

"You mean you have the capacity to use more than four?" Goodwitch asked, and got an answer in the form of a light chuckle and a nod.

"In fact, Professor," the armor-clad warrior spoke, "I can use up to six if I reach level 40."

"Can other people use them?" Nora questioned as she looked up at the young man expectantly. "Y'know... I'm not so sure, to be honest," he said as he thought for a moment before suggesting that she try and nab one to use herself. That was all the permission Nora needed as she crouched and jumped straight for the one she was pointing at; expecting to either grab it or crash into it...

Only, that didn't happen...

What DID happen, though was that she fell straight through it like it wasn't even there and crashed into the seat behind the one it was standing on; her feet dangling in the air above her head as she tried to regain her orientation.

"Yeesh... at least now we know what to expect..." the armor-clad fighter cringed as he said this before turning to Pyrrha. "I think it's about time we got this started, don't you?" he asked his opponent as he raised his hands up to his chest before taking on a stance that the students present had only seen Yang take; a kickboxer's stance. With this declaration, the Invincible Girl nodded and raised her shield while her weapon, in it's sword form, was pointed slightly forward in a relaxed position yet held in a firm grip. The combatants stared each other down, sizing each other's strength, for what felt like hours to them but in reality was only a few seconds to everyone else. It was at this moment that the true spar started.

Dichro was the first to make a move as he pushed forward in a dash with both fists cocked back towards his opponent. He threw the first punch as his right fist landed on her shield; the vibrations of the impact rattling her body before she made her first attack - a vertical slash aimed for his head. With his free arm raised, he caught the blade on the bracer armor as it came down - giving him the chance to drop onto his knee and try to sweep a leg across Pyrrha's own to knock her down. The Spartan was having none of that as she back-flipped away; transforming her weapon into it's javelin mode as she did so and performing a horizontal slash at the Kamen Rider's leg in return. His own answer to this was a simple backwards hop to avoid the strike as he ran for her again with both fists cocked back. His attack changed when he landed his left fist onto her shield from the punch before using his right fist to punch the side of the shield; knocking it and her arm to the side and leaving her own side wide open for a left jab into her rib cage that he gladly took. The force of the blow pushed her back a foot or two as she stumbled but was able to get ahold of herself easily enough; the time it took for her to recover, however, was just long enough for the armored Ant Faunus to leap at her with a swinging kick. She lifted her shield to try and block it, but the leg caught the small gap in the shield itself and flung her to the side once more before she was blind-sided with a sidekick to her underarm. Once more, Dichro launched a simple punch, but this time aimed directly for her shield as Pyrrha tried to block what looked like an attack on her torso. As soon as the fist collided, though, her opponent's free hand slapped the bottom of the shield and sent her arm upward before launching another side kick; this one blocked by her javelin.

"I don't get it..." Ruby muttered to herself as she watched the fight in confusion. Her half-sister looked at her and asked, "Get what, Rubes?"

"He's acting like all he's really focused on is her shield..." the reaper began to explain as she crossed her arms, "But why? It's not like it's something that can actually harm anyone - not like her weapon can."

"Wait, he's what?" Yang spouted in dumbfounded confusion.

Ren and Blake both nodded to each other before turning to Team RWBY's leader. "It's simple, really," Blake stated, "He's attacking the most vulnerable part of her defense he can find; her shield."

Weiss simply stared incredulously at her Cat Faunus teammate before asking, "How does that make any sense at all? Attacking the one thing literally designed and intended for defending is a fool's errand."

"Mayhaps to someone who has not used a shield before," Professor Port interrupted, "But when you have learned to use one, you come to a realization that they can be just as hindering as they can be useful." The portly man pointed to the ongoing spar just as Dichro once again strike's Pyrrha's shield, this time with an elbow strike, before punching the shield to the side and landing a jab into her rib cage yet again. "Did you see that just now?" he asked rhetorically, not expecting the nods he got, before explaining, "He's using the shield's size against her. When a person who specializes in melee combat goes against a shield user, they tend to find ways around that shield... Either with raw speed, tactical trap placement, or, as we are witnessing now, sheer brute force. He is leaving her wide open to any attack he can squeeze in while also using the vibrations of his attacks on her shield to whittle down her aura until eventually -" A metallic clang is heard as a jumping spin kick from the Kamen Rider nails the side of Pyrrha's shield, but unlike before this sends the shield flying off of the Invincible Girl's forearm and straight into a seat off to the upper rows; embedding it deep inside the cushioning and wooden frame.

"That happens..." Professor Port finished as Ruby, Nora, Yang, Jaune and even Weiss eyes the events in awe. "He just... He just rendered Pyrrha, a renown champion athlete, defenseless!" the heiress exclaimed in shock. Port merely chuckled at this before pointing once more to the combatants whom were still fighting and saying, "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Ms. Schnee. Just because a shield user loses their shield it doesn't mean that they cannot defend themselves... It just means that they're hindered to some degree."

"It also means he can fight head-on with no restraints," Yang said before punching her fist into her hand and exclaiming, "This is getting me even more pumped!" Weiss simply stared at the fighters on stage with wide eyes as she thought to herself the one question that burned in her mind; 'Just who are you REALLY, Dichro?'

At that moment, said Kamen Rider had just landed a right hook onto the Spartan's javelin before swinging his right leg into her side that she barely blocked with her entire left arm, though this sent her rolling to the side and landing on one knee and her left hand. Pyrrha's hand glowed a soft, black hue as it turned to face it's palm to her opponent who was jumping up to launch a flying kick - expecting it to take control of the metal in his armor and send him flying back... Yet nothing happened as the kick flew straight for her, clipping her shoulder as she rolled out of the way; hoping that her opponent didn't see the blatant, in her opinion, use of her Semblance. Dichro, however, did notice, but, when he saw nothing happened, the same question that ran through Pyrrha's mind ran it's course through his as well.

'What in the world? Why didn't that work?'

The armored brawler landed on his feet, he ran straight for his opponent with a left uppercut aimed at her and blocked by her weapon before launching a right hook into her face, his thoughts drifting in the middle of the fight. 'I know I saw it,' he mused as he performed a roundhouse kick into her solar plexus, 'That black glow meant she was using her Semblance - I'm practically a walking tin can for crying out loud...'

As this was going on, Pyrrha's mind also began to wonder as she muddled what had happened, 'My Semblance was working fine earlier today... I know I channeled it right, but it felt like something was blocking it...'

'Just what in the hell is going on?!' they both asked themselves in their heads as Dichro launched a sidekick that Pyrrha barely blocked. Desperation was forming in the Invincible Girl's resolve as she tried to fling him off her weapon before back-flipping away, transforming her weapon into it's musket form as she landed, and opened fire as soon as her sights were set on her opponent. The bullets nailed their target in several places as he tried to block them with his arms, but it wasn't doing much good before Pyrrha turned her weapon back into it's Javelin mode and threw it at her opponent; it landed on his chest and sent him flying... straight into one of the power-ups he had summoned earlier - one he hated being flung into.

" **LIQUEFACTION!** "

As the disc broke, his body immediately turned into a puddle of goo; leaving nothing discernible of him save for his Rider eyes. At this, everyone there, save for Ozpin who dropped his mug and cane in shock as his skin turned even paler than normal; the former of which shattering as it hit the floor, screamed in horror and fear with Nora jumping into Ren's arms and Jaune tripping over the back of one of the seats.

Pyrrha looked on in horror, tears formed in her eyes thinking she had killed him, as she cried out, "OH OUM, I'M SORRY - I DIDN'T MEAN TO KILL HIM!"

"SHADDAP! I AIN'T DEAD YET! ALL YA DID WAS TICK ME OFF"

Everyone looked at the puddle in utter shock as it 'scuttled' near Pyrrha, only Yang being able to feel not only the anger but annoyance coming off of Dichro due to her bond with him. "Besides," he spoke again, this time barely calmer, "You're giving yourself too much credit thinking you killed a Kamen Rider."

"Then..." the Spartan sniffled as she wiped the tears from her eyes before looking at her 'melted' opponent before asking, "Then what DID I do to you?"

"You knocked me into the single, most annoying power-up to ever be unintentionally knocked into," he answered as he 'looked' around before continuing, "The Liquefaction power-up; it grants total immunity to all incoming damage at the cost of not being able to attack... Also, I'm not used to moving around in this form, so a reduction in movement speed also counts against me intentionally using this one... Although..." An idea ran through his head as he spotted the Stretch power-up just shy of his reach. He concentrated on the disc and tried to will it to come to him; and come to him it did - it practically flew into his melted body before shattering against the puddle and ground.

" **STRETCH!** "

As the power-up took effect, his puddle form soon took on a 'slightly' more humanoid form as a pair of flabby arms sprung out from the blob that coalesced into the torso and head combined; his new form now twice the size of his opponent.

"Oh man... This is weird..." Dichro spoke as he tried to steady his new body, "I've never done THIS combo before... But let's see how useful it is." He lifted one of his arms and swung it downward at the Invincible Girl who barely rolled out of the way and made a beeline for her weapon. "Oh no you don't," the Blob Rider called out as his other arm stretched out with five tendrils forming at the end and wrapping around her like a hand before flinging her to the total opposite side of the stage. Her body crashed into the stage floor and rolled until she nearly fell off the actual stage itself. Before she could recover, he was already stretching his body until his head slammed next to her with the rest of him catching up and reforming his slime monster form before he backhanded her into the back of the stage.

"YEAH!" Yang cheered as she pumped a fist into the air, "Get'er, Dichro; show'er who's boss you are!"

"My word..." Was all Professor Port could mutter as Ozpin finally recovered somewhat. He turned to Glynda with wide-eyes and spoke to her in a hushed tone, "We are VERY lucky to have someone like him on our side..." The deputy headmistress could only nod as Ozpin's attention returned to the battle, only to find that Dichro had reverted to normal and Pyrrha was kneeling on the ground. As he walked over to her, the professors recognized her actions as one of yielding and were about to stop the match before he squat down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. When they saw this, the professors and students watched the interaction with rapt attention.

"You doin' okay, Pyrrha? What are you doing?" the Kamen Rider asked his opponent who merely looked up confused.

"Isn't this how you yield a spar or a match where you come from?" the Spartan asked in return. Dichro merely chuckled before shaking his head and replying, "Nah, we usually tap the ground 3 times. Look, you were doing great out there. If I had been in my Faunus form, I would have been screwed over." Pyrrha's confusion only increased at this while he stood up and took out the GGD from it's holster.

" **GASHOON!** "

At least three confirmed people fell onto the floor laughing their butts off at the sound the device made upon it's removal; Ruby, who tried to hide her reddening face in her hood; Nora, who had to hold her sides to stop the pain of her laughing; and Jaune, who was slamming his fist into the floor.

"WHAT 'WAS' THAT?!" Ruby yelled out between laughs as she tried to catch her breath.

"I dunno," Jaune answered as he calmed his laughter down somewhat before he continued, "But it sounded like some super buff macho guy trying to make a sneeze sound manly!" That did it; he broke down again.

"Oh ha ha, very funny," the armored brawler said before he turned the dial to it's default position and hit the button, causing the armor to vanish and leave him in his normal Faunus form; taking the power-ups away as they vanished with the armor. Though the professors and Blake caught something interesting; his blue left eye had become red to match his right eye. It only lasted for a few seconds, however, as the next time he blinked his left eye returned to it's normal blue color. He held a hand out to Pyrrha who gladly took it and stood up before she walked off the stage. "Two down, one to go," the dichromatic young man said with a small smile as he looked out at the students, "It's time to end this little demo while we are still on a high note. Yang, c'mon up here."

"Alright, its my turn!" the Blonde brawler cheered before she ran to and jumped onto the stage. Dichro lifted the device up before turning the dial to Knockout Fighter; the title screen appearing as the confirmation sound and loop track played.

" **KNOCKOUT FIGHTER! THE STRONGEST FIST! Round 1! ROCK AND FIRE!** "

Unlike before, no power-ups manifested from the title screen, which only confirmed Dichro's earlier words on them. Dichro gave a call of "Henshin!" before he pressed the button on the GGD, triggering the confirmation sound and a holographic image of his Fighter Gamer form to appear in front of him.

" **DUAL UP!** "

The screen passed over him, once more donning him in the armor of Para-DX.

" **EXPLOSION HIT! KNOCKOUT FIGHTER!** "

With his armor fully formed, he slid the device into it's holster before pounding his fist-like weapons together in a taunting fashion. "Now's a good time to back down, if ya want," the armored brawler suggested to his opponent before taking up a more traditional boxing stance. The blonde brawler merely chuckled as she shook her head before replying, "You really think I'm not up for this? Dichro, I was born for this kind of fighting." She got into her own stance as her bracelets expanded into the shotgun gauntlets she and her sister were so used to seeing.

"Then let's see you get fired up!" the Kamen Rider exclaimed as he dashed at her with both fists raised to cover his face. The blond brawler's own charge mirrored his as she dashed. Their right fists cocked back with their left arms blocking any potential hidden strikes before they launched their attacks; fist and gunfire met solid metal as the force of both punches combined sent a small recoil wave across their arms. It was at this point the true fight began.

Yang launched a left hook aimed for Dichro's head which was blocked by his right arm. The armored brawler retaliated with a swinging right kick aimed at her side; to which she blocked with her right fist connecting to the kneeguard. Hopping from his left leg to his right, Dichro launched an upward kick into his opponent's midsection, who caught it as it connected before she spun him around behind her. The young man barely managed to recover after rolling for a little bit before he had to block a jumping punch from his bondmate. Through their bond, they could feel each other's joy and exhilaration at fighting one another even as they threw and blocked punch after punch and kick after kick with neither one landing a true blow on the other; they were enjoying themselves. Dichro dropped to one knee in an attempt to sweep his opponent's leg's from under her, yet Yang merely hopped to avoid the attack and shot her right fist straight at him, only for his own right arm to block it as he spun from the momentum from his attack. Yang quickly punched the arm to the side in the same way he had done to Pyrrha's shield, yet when she went for a right jab he blocked it with his left. Feeling frustrated, she punched the arm away and tried again to strike; only for her fist to connect with a right hook of his own.

Ruby's eyes went wide in shock as her brow furrowed in embarrassment as she realized what her sister was doing. She cupped her hands to the sides of her mouth and shouted, "Sis, quit trying to be a copy cat - that's not gonna work!"

"So, you noticed it too?" Professor Oobleck asked the reaper girl as she finished calling out her sibling's mistake. Jaune looked at the older man in confusion as he scratched the back of his head before asking, "Um... Whatcha mean?"

"Why the fact that Ruby's sister is trying to use the same trick that Dichro pulled on Ms. Nikos, my boy," the green haired man answered before continuing, "But as she pointed out, this trick won't work on him."

"Why's that?" was the question that the blond knight asked only for the heiress to scoff at him and answer for their professor. "Because, you dolt, Dichro knows what to spot when he knows his opponent is trying to go for his weapon. Not only that, but he has two of them as opposed to Pyrrha's one shield and they are both smaller than it."

"Not exactly, Ms. Schnee..." Professor Port interjected as he chuckled, "While it is true that he has two weapons and that he knows what to look out for, there is another factor to take into account. Watch what happens."

As they looked on, they noticed something odd; the armored brawler started throwing sloppier and slower punches at Yang, who dodged them with ease before all of a sudden she gets waylaid by an unnoticed left jab to the gut immediately after dodging a right uppercut. As she recovered, he launched a straight left jab that was just as slow as his earlier attacks aimed at her head; she dodged this as well, only for her side to get hit by a right jab.

"Do you see it now?" the portly professor asked the students before Nora spoke up.

"Oh wow, he knows the Slight of Hand trick!" she deduced remarkably quickly.

"Precisely, Ms. Valkyrie," Oobleck congratulated her before continuing, "You see the Slight of Hand, while seemingly underhanded, is actually a rather impressive and difficult tactic to execute, but if done correctly it can make the opponent confused as to where you are really attacking from. The objective is to throw slow, easy to avoid attacks to make the opponent drop their guard before landing a swift, unseen blow to them. The reason this is so difficult to perform is that it requires moves that are slower than you normally would while still making it look convincing enough to fool the opponent."

The students continued to watch the fight unfold as Dichro's punches had once more returned to full speed, with a left hook connecting with her cheek. As she stumbled, her opponent took the opportunity to throw an uppercut that connected to her chin, sending her skyward a few feet before being forcefully pulled by her foot, spun around like a rag-doll and then let go of into a pillar. As she went straight through it, he called out, "So long, Gay Bowser!"

As she crashed through this, all the students, especially Ruby who simply said, "Oooh, that's gotta hurt...", cringed at the impact itself.

The blonde brawler pulled herself out of the rubble before glaring at her opponent; said opponent simply pounded his fists together in a taunting fashion before saying, "C'mon, Yang, is that REALLY the best you've got?" Her answer was to growl and punch her fists together as her golden aura flared up, signaling that she was activating her Semblance... But Ruby spotted something wrong almost immediately...

Her eyes were still lavender instead of red like they normally would.

"Something's wrong..." the leader of team RWBY said as she looked on in concern. Ozpin noticed this and asked what she meant before she replied, "Yang's Semblance is her Willpower... The more damage she takes, the stronger her attacks become... But there's one dead giveaway that shows she's using it... Her eyes turn red when she flares her aura like that."

"And... they aren't?" the headmaster asked, getting a nod from the youngest student amongst the group. "Then we can only have one of two assumptions to draw from this... Either this is a Kamen Rider function..." he deduced as he noticed Dichro's fists become engulfed in fire along with the dial on his back before Ozpin continued grimly, "Or we've found out what Dichro's Semblance is."

Under his helmet, Dichro smiled brightly as his fists were lit aflame before saying, "There's that fire I've been looking for - now let's really test it!" He grabbed the device holstered to his hip and pulled it out just enough to trigger the release sound before turning the dial to it's default position and then back to Knockout Fighter as he slammed it back into the holster before it could call out Kimewaza.

" **DUAL GASHAT!** "

His fiery fists were soon covered in a red energy that fused with the fire; forming an odd, almost blood colored flame that licked his weapons.

" **KNOCKOUT CRITICAL SMASH!** "

Both brawlers charged at each other with a fist cocked back ready to punch the other. Ruby's eyes went wide in worry before she cried out, "Yang, don't!"

But it was too late; her attack connected with her bondmate's and was soon overpowered before his other fist landed an uppercut into her gut. The contact from this impact triggered an unusual reaction when Yang's body suddenly "exploded" much the same way that Ruby did when she had met Weiss on her first day in Beacon; yet this explosion was multiple explosions that clouded the area in dust and debris from the surrounding seats.

" **K.O.!** "

As the dust cleared, everyone could see Yang wobbling left and right as she struggled to stay standing; her eyes replaced with swirls in her dazed confusion as she asked, "Did I just explode?" She fell forward into the arms of her opponent, who sat down on his knees and layed her back across his legs with her head resting on his abdomen. "You okay there, aibou?" he asked in concern. His answer was her shaking her head to clear the cobwebs before she looked up at him with a wide grin.

"Better than ever after that fun fight, but what does 'aibou' mean?" she asked.

He chuckled at her reaction and simply said, "In one of the languages we speak where I come from, aibou means Partner."

"Makes sense..." the blonde brawler said with a shrug, but as she did both of them noticed something slowly falling to the floor out of the corner of their eyes; something bright yellow and thin.

A lock of Yang's hair.

Fear and guilt washed over the armored brawler as he looked down at a confused Yang. She felt his fear and sighed as she closed her eyes. "I don't get why everyone thinks I'm obsessed with my hair..." she admits as she looks back up at him before continuing, "The only reason I do that is because its someone or something that I either hate or have no problems really hurtin' them... And I definitely have problems hurtin' my friends." As she finished this with a smile, Dichro sighed in relief before removing the GGD and performing the same actions as before to deactivate the armor. Yang noticed something off about him and decided to voice her concern, "Hey um... Since when did your blue eye turn red?"

"It... what?" he asked dumbfounded as his left eye turned back from red to blue. His bondmate simply nodded as she sat back up and said, "Yeah, your left eye just went from red to blue, but it was clearly red earlier. Maybe you were using your semblance?"

"My semblance?" the dichromatic young man asked before his eyes went wide and fear once more washed over him, flooding into her through their bond as well, before asking, "Yang, did you feel or notice anything wrong with your Semblance when you used it?"

She cringed slightly at the tone and simply nodded before answering, "Yeah, now that you mention it... It DID feel like something was cloggin' it up..."

Pyrrha, who was the closest within earshot, heard this and spoke up, "The same thing happened with me when I tried to use my Semblance against you. If you did the same thing with Yang, then... There's only one logical explanation; that was your Semblance you used."

Dichro's reaction... was unexpected...

His eyes somehow went wider as he gripped the sides of his head before somewhat whispering, "Oh god... I..." He was almost afraid to even say it, but he had to point it out...

"My Semblance... is Eternal..."

* * *

xXx

* * *

And there we have it; the 11th chapter to the Paradox of Remnant! Hurray!

I hope you all enjoyed it and until next time, everyone...

See you next game!


	12. Weapon Unlocked!

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! I am SO sorry for the massive delay, I just had so much happening IRL and it caused me to forget a LOT of the stuff I had planned for this chapter, but I assure you, I will do my best to keep myself consistent.

Looks like the last chapter got a bit more of a backlash than I thought... Just please note that I'm going to try and nerf the Semblance as much as I can while still keeping it viable in combat. This will be discovered once they get to experimenting with the semblance, but for now I just hope my word is enough...

Also, I want to apologize for the long updates as IRL issues took place that I needed to take care of... It won't be the last these pop up but I wanted to warn you.

Now then, on with the questions!

Ride player hary... Yes, you just read that. XD But as I said, it will be nerfed.

Demons Anarchy of Pride... Yes.

The Mind Master, we will get into that when he experiments with his semblance.

Betoran... No, your eyes do not deceive you. That is literally what happened.

And that was easy enough... Oh well, on with the story!

I own nothing but Dichro/Steven and the new guy coming in.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

Death...

Desolation...

Despair...

These are what my children feed upon...

These are what the world deserves...

These are what my name alone brings...

And yet... Never in my near-everlasting life... Have I ever felt such a devastating, grand, and quite honestly... chaotic... power.

As I look out to the birthing grounds of my children, I notice the sky was not the same... Instead of the normal black and gorgeous crimson blood red that I have grown to adore, an atrocious cloud cover of teal and violet covered my view of the sky. Crimson and orange lightning continuously hurtle across and between the clouds. The winds are strong enough that even my precious children are forced to seek shelter from the storm...

I had already commanded my children to find the source of this storm and, if possible, remove it by any means necessary... No sooner than I had done this, however, two of my followers approached me... Fear etched into their faces... It was unusual to see Tyrian express fear in anything but myself... Arthur, on the other hand, wasn't so out of place.

"What is it...?" I demanded with a calm tone that belied my infuriation as I glared at them. It seems whatever is causing this... storm... is affecting them even more than I am them...

Curiouser and curiouser... I wonder what could cause such distress?

"Madam..." Arthur addressed me as he fidgeted at several of the closer lightning strikes, "We believe we MAY have found the source of the storm..."

"And have you not dealt with it, yet?" I asked in annoyance.

"We can't," Tyrian... As blunt as ever... "Because... Nothing we used affected it - at all - not even the Grimm."

"Then I thank you for bringing this to my attention..." I stated icily before glaring at them even more and requesting, "Where is it?"

Arthur, quick as his wit, answered this question, "I-In the ballroom parlor, madam... However, I urge that we make haste."

I did not question him... Instead, I merely nodded and held my hand out to gesture the two to lead the way. They lead me to the extravagant room and whatever I had anticipated to be the cause of the storm... What I saw was not it...

A swirling vortex of violet, amber, and pitch black energy laid perpetually hovering in the middle of the room with the same orange and crimson lightning from the storm arcing across the vortex and the room. The lightning appeared to be striking anything that moved from small bits of furniture to whole parts of the room and even my precious children that got too close. As I stepped closer to it, I noticed something... peculiar... A curled figure was inside the vortex; the figure itself appeared to have some kind of... 'armor'... on it judging from the silhouette it made. It's shoulders were uneven in terms of their sizes and several parts of their body looked a bit 'mismatched' would be the term for it; but I didn't ponder on this for long as I noticed a brilliant white glow forming around the figure's torso. I turned to my followers, ready to command they aid this individual out of their predicament, when one of the bolts of lightning soared past me and struck Tyrian through his chest; leaving him with a charred hole in his torso that he clutched at vainly before his life left him and caused his body to collapse. Another bolt soon found it's own target as the head of Arthur was claimed in it's assault; leaving the headless ponch to fall backwards from the force of the strike. I turned back to the vortex, ready to unleash my full wrath upon this... trespasser... when I heard something 'odd' coming from the vortex... It was almost like... A tune.

" **MIGHTY JUMP! MIGHTY KI-KI-KCHK-DANGER! DANGER! DEATH THE-KCHK-MIGH~TY~-KCHK-CRISIS! ACTION~ ZOMBIE X!** "

As this went on, the vortex seemed to consume itself as it sunk into the light of the figure. Each passing second, the vortex grew smaller and smaller until all that remained was a large and very dark violet pall of smoke surrounding a new silhouette; this one more akin to a normal human male and yet... Strangely, I had a feeling he was more than he let on. As the billow slowly wafted away, leaving only enough to envelope the figure as the ashes of my children would their skin, the figure was revealed to be a man whom appeared to be in his thirties with black hair wearing what appeared to be a tuxedo with a black shirt and a white tie... though it was his odd features that lead me to confirm my suspicions that he was not human at all. His upper left face and his right shoulder were both missing; replaced with what appeared to be flames made of orange and yellow rectangles. Under his right eye were three black stripes, each one wider than the last with the one closest to his nose being the thinnest, that ran down from his lower eyelid all the way down his neck. Across multiple parts of his body were large white words that read " _ERROR_ " along with parts of his black tuxedo being white as if they were cut and then sewed back on with the wrong color. Lastly were his legs... or the lack thereof from the mid-thigh down. Where his legs and feet would be, the smoke increased in density.

The figure closed his eye and inhaled slowly as he brought his hands outward and brought his head up to the ceiling before he exhaled just as slowly. He smirked as if he had just accomplished a lifelong goal of his before opening his eye and finally speaking.

"So clo-clo-close," he whispered to himself; speaking in a stutter that almost seemed like a player scratching as it replayed itself, "So very c-close... But it looks like godho-hood is still one more milestone away-y-y... Such a shame..." He looked around the destroyed parlor before his snide grin grew wide and said, "Yet this time-time... I do not have that insufferable huma-man personality to hold me back-back-back... And it looks like I have a NEW te-te-testing ground to work with..."

"Who and what are you?" I demanded of this trespasser who simply looked at me with his head tilted sideways and curiosity in his eye. "And what business do you have to invade MY sanctum?" The man simply chuckled darkly as he shook his head with a sneer before simply stating, "Don't-t-t you know that it's ru-rude to ask for someone's name without giv-giving your own first? It is, af-af-after a-all common courtesy."

I merely glared at him harder as I pushed my aura to the forefront thinking it would be enough to make this man cower like all the others... Yet he did not; he simply shrugged his shoulders and shook his head before continuing his speech.

"As for what I-am and what I'm doing here..." he began, "I am... a shad-d-d-dow... A mere shell o-of my former image... Or shoul-ould I say... Of what I COU-COULD have been?"

"Could have been?" I parroted him in confusion as he chuckled darkly once more; I did not like this man one bit.

"Indeed," he replied, "My main goal has been and al-always will be to attain godline-ne-ness; to become immo-mortal... And... Eter-ter-ternal."

* * *

)-Back at Beacon-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Everyone stared at the dichromatic young lad in confusion as he gripped his head and whispered in almost a cross between panic and excitement, though only Yang and Pyrrha could make out what he had said. Both girls looked even more confused at this but Yang was the only other one beginning to panic as she felt his fear penetrate her soul. "Dichro, calm down," she tried pleading with him as she hugged him before asking, "What do you mean your Semblance is 'Eternal'? And why is it such a big deal?"

Dichro merely chuckled awkwardly as he looked at her with an almost thousand yard stare before answering with, "I'm sorry, Yang... It's just... I don't know whether I should be fanboying all over the place or scared out of my damned mind..."

"Perhaps if you explain what you mean by 'Eternal', we can understand why you feel the way you do," Ozpin suggested. Dichro merely nodded as he closed his eyes and inhaled slowly, holding it in for a second or two before letting it out slowly. Cautiously, he began his exposition, "Okay... There was once a time where Kamen Riders and those they fought had to use devices called Gaia Memories instead of Gashats... These memories held incredible powers called Maximum Drives, but one among them held power to control them all. The device was the Eternal Gaia Memory, and the Kamen Rider who had this device was also called Eternal... Eternal's Maximum Drive was that it could negate any other Gaia Memory in it's range..." Everyone looked on in wide-eyed shock as he continued, "That's not the only reason, though... In a sense, if your Semblance cannot be used, it can be viewed as the 'death of the soul' in a way... And death is the only thing that is viewed as 'eternal'..."

"Hence why you said 'My Semblance is Eternal'..." Professor Port mused as he stroked his chin, "This is indeed most troubling."

The headmaster called out for everyone's attention at that moment, "Everyone, whatever you have seen or heard here must never be told to anyone; not even family."

"WHAT?!" Ruby cried out in shock as she had planned to tell her dad and uncle that she had found someone with, in her opinion, an epic Semblance, "But why?!"

Ozpin turned to the young reaper, walked up to her, and put a hand on her shoulder as he said, "Because, Ruby, there are people out there that would abuse Dichro's power for their own personal gain; even good people like your uncle."

"What are you talking about?" Yang asked as she turned her attention from Dichro to the headmaster, who in turn looked at her and answered, "Your Uncle Qrow's Semblance is, quite literally, Misfortune; he brings bad luck to all those around him - even himself and his family. Have you not wondered 'why' he rarely stays in one place for too long or 'why' he hardly ever visits you except for training?'

Both siblings went wide-eyed in shock and confusion, but Yang suddenly felt surprise and realization coming off of her bondmate as he stared at the Dumbledore of Remnant and said, "That's the kind of person that would do their damnest to stay close to me..."

"Exactly," Ozpin replied, "You would be his only chance at having some semblance of a normal day or, if he really became desperate, a normal life. There are also people that would use your Semblance for their own dark purposes... This is why we cannot have anyone learn of your Semblance."

At this, everyone nodded and each in their own way swore to keep silent on everything they learned here; though there was one thing several people were wondering as this was going on, and, when it was finished, Yang was the one to voice their confusion.

"Say, Dichro... Where DID you learn to fight like that?" the blond brawler asked.

Her bondmate merely grinned lopsidedly and blushed lightly as he scratched the back of his head and chuckled before saying, "Well... I did take some kickboxing lessons back when I was younger - when I was 10 I think."

"Wait..." Yang interjected before speaking up again, "What's 'kickboxing'?"

Dichro turned to her in utter shock as he asked, "You... You've never heard of kickboxing?" When she shook her head negative, his shock only grew as he said, "H-How?! I mean you practically use it every time you fight. Granted the form's a bit rough and more attuned to normal boxing, but still..."

Pyrrha finally lost her patience as she interrupted his musings by questioning him, "I'm sorry, but... What do "boxes" have to do with fighting?" Yang suddenly felt the short guy's unbridled annoyance as he turned to her with a deadpanned expression and said, "You've GOTTA be joking..." When she, too, shook her head 'no' in genuine confusion, he slapped his forehead with his hand and ran it down his face in an annoyed chuckle before saying, "Someone, help me please..."

"I think it might be a popular sport where he's from," Ren deduced as he walked up to Pyrrha.

The ant faunus looked up at the young man before saying, "Ren, you are a life-saver; boxing and kickboxing are both sports. There are similarities between the two, but there are also vast differences. Both are exhibition match sports in which -"

"You mean like wrestling?!" Nora asked excitedly, interrupting the dichromatic young man.

"How do you know what wrestling is and not wha- Y'know what, I'm not gonna bother..." Dichro stated before continuing his explanation, "Anyway, they are both sports that have three minute rounds to determine a winner. In both, a boxer can win by knockout which means they literally knock their opponent out cold, by making their opponent incapable of getting up before the referee counts to 10 seconds, or by making their opponent forfeit the match by having their trainer throw their towels into the ring; sort of like a white flag. In kickboxing, you can also win by the opponent tapping out..."

"Which explains why you didn't realize my kneeling was a sign of forfeit..." Pyrrha inferred as she listened in. Dichro merely nodded before continuing, "Exactly. There's also other rules. In boxing, you're only allowed to use something called boxing gloves which are actually somewhat large and not very well cushioned, if at all..."

At this, Ruby spouted out in shock, "Someone could get hurt that way; why would anyone do that?!"

"That's kinda the point," Dichro explained, "In wrestling, there are some things, NOT all, that are staged, but the only way you're gonna get anything staged in boxing and kickboxing is by bribing the opponent into taking a fall. People have actually been killed in both rings because boxers got careless." He waited for everyone to calm down before he continued, "In kickboxing, there are no gloves, but you're only allowed to use your hands and feet. Both do not allow anyone to hit below the belt or above the thighs; those are considered low-blows."

"Stands to reason why..." Jaune stated.

"And you were taught to fight such a barbaric style?" Weiss inquired as she looked at the midget guy skeptically. He nodded before saying, "Yeah, but like I said; it's been a few years since I practiced it - haven't stopped some of the exercise routines, though..."

"Then how were you able to fight so well out in the Emerald Forest and against Pyrrha and Yang?" the heiress once more interrogated, only to receive a nervous chuckle in response.

"Well, it's not hard to observe what your opponents can do..." he said simply before blushing, his embarrassment could be felt by Yang through their bond, "Also... I um... have a bad habit of... 'Monkey see, monkey do' syndrome..."

"I hate to ask this," Weiss said in annoyance, "but what does that mean?"

"Well..." Dichro hesitated as he began, "What it means is... If I saw it done once before... I try to do it myself... And I saw something similar to what I did with my spars on anime - a type of cartoon animation where I'm from..." As his embarrassment reached it's peak, everyone present stared at him in absolute and mortified horror.

"Um... You guys okay?" he asked before looking to Ozpin, who; for the second time in his life, was rendered speechless. This time, however, the headmaster was not having any of it. 'He needs to be reigned in,' Ozpin thought to himself, 'Otherwise, he will put himself and countless others at risk; not just for his callous actions but because of what he is and the knowledge he possesses.' The man turned to Dichro and glared at the boy harshly before stating, "You, Mr. Spectrum, will be signed up for extra curricular combat training classes everyday after normal classes and on weekend mornings; this will not be negotiable and will be effective immediately Monday."

When this was said, everyone but Dichro looked at the headmaster as if he had grown a third head; Dichro raised an eyebrow before asking, "So... what? That means I'm not allowed to ever leave the academy or something? That's kinda the vibe I'm getting..."

"Unfortunately, yes," Ozpin said briskly, "Until you can prove to us that you can fight without relying on your so-called 'techniques', you will spend every day after classes with either a special tutor or one of the professors."

"Ah, crapbaskets..." the dichromatic young man whispered in annoyance before thinking to himself, 'This is going to be hell in a handbasket now...'

* * *

)-The Next Day-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

Another day... Another chance of making a fool out of myself...

I still cannot believe I was able to win not only against Pyrrha or Yang, but both of them one after another... Though I have to admit, Yang was tougher because her hits made me tingle in all the sore ways; I even had to ask Team JNPR if I could borrow their bathtub for almost 2 hours straight just to relax my muscles enough to meditate last night - let alone sleep! And yeah, I still don't have a dorm to stay in yet, nor a scroll of my own... But speaking of meditating, something weird happened...

When I finally started getting into my meditation, Yang practically burst out of the door looking like there was a war going on outside her room. It scared the living hell outta me! When I asked her what was going on, she said that something was "going on with our bond"... I was confused at this and asked her to describe what she meant. She simply said, "I dunno, it felt like there was some kind of hurricane of emotions or somethin' was going on and you were in the center of it." She asked what I was doing and when I told her that all I was doing was meditating, she looked at me like I had just lied through my teeth before asking me to do it again just to prove myself. I did and well... She asked me to stop because she felt it again. "We're gonna have to find out what's causing that later," was all I said before we told each other good night and I finally managed to fall asleep out of mental exhaustion of trying to figure out what caused that...

Anyway, the next morning I woke up, I found myself face to face with the adorkable little leader of Team RWBY. She told me that her scroll went off with a message from Ozpin saying that I needed to meet with Goodwitch immediately at the armory and forge workshop; that my time without a true weapon was coming to an end. Crapbaskets, I forgot about that...

I am so not looking forward to this...

I quickly asked what time it was and Ruby had mentioned the sun wasn't even up; meaning it wasn't even 6 in the morning yet... I sighed and thanked her, suggesting she try and go back to sleep, before I started some quick push-ups to get myself warmed up. With that done, I left the dormitories and wandered around the outside of Beacon trying to find where the armory was. It was by sheer dumb luck I happened upon a girl with long, brown hair and a pair of long, brown bunny ears in a Beacon Uniform wandering around as if looking for something; I must have been taking too long if they sent Velvet out to find me... Lo and behold, when she spotted me, she rushed up to and greeted me as warmly as she could muster.

"G'morning. Um... You wouldn't happen to be Dichro Spectrum, would you?" she asked rather timidly. I simply nodded before asking her for her name, since I knew that technically I wasn't supposed to know it, and if she was sent to fetch me, to which she replied, "My name's Velvet Scarlatina, and... Well, yes... I am... Professor Goodwitch thought it prudent to have my team hunt you down in a sense. I'll let the others know I found you before we head to the armory."

With that, she called up her team with her scroll before leading me to a rather impressive building that resembled a metalwork shop my mom used to work at. The outside was nothing too grand except for the size of it and how many ventilation shafts were running through and around the sides; just a rather normal, tented roof silver building with a sign out front with " _Beacon Academy Armory and Forge_ " with a smaller sign beneath it that read " _Please refrain from bringing Fire Dust into this vicinity without prior authorization_ ". Wow, sounds like someone got in trouble doing that same thing. Velvet ushered me into the building which comprised of a LOT of machines, a stand near the entrance with a variety of " _Stock Weapons_ ", a few large cauldrons that I presumed were for the molten metals for the actual weapon forgings, and a LOT of... cubicals I think my big sis would call them? They all were rather small 10'x10' areas with long tables, a Dust Dispenser I think they're called in each one, and a LOT of tools. 'Those must be the areas where the weapons are maintained or built...' I mused before turning to see Glynda looking at me with a small smile as she walked up to me.

"Good morning, Mr. Spectrum," she greeted me before handing me a red rectangular object with a gold diamond in the middle, golden lines along the edges of each panel, and rounded blue corners. "This will be your personal scroll. Make sure you keep this on you at ALL times from this moment on as many of the professors, myself included, will be checking to see if students have them on their person. And before you ask, the color choice was a request from Professor Ozpin himself." She then motioned to a bag that was laying next to the weapons stand before speaking again, "Over there is your new school uniforms; and I do mean plural as I know you currently lack any other form of clothing at the moment due to your... unique stature."

"Yeah yeah, it's because I'm short; don't try to sugarcoat it," I said annoyed at how Goodwitch just tried to dance around that fact. Judging from the look on her face, she was just as annoyed at me as I was at her.

"Be that as it may-" she began before being interrupted as two young men jogged inside the building to them; one of them was tall and athletic-looking with shaved-short black hair and tanned skin while the other had dark skin and dark, messy copper hair that had a long fringe and a cowlick - both of them wearing Beacon Uniforms. The tall one, Yatsu if I remember right, spoke up first by saying, "Sorry we're late. Just got word that Coco's made a quick stop for coffee."

"Yeah, she even made that lame excuse about how 'she'll start working when her coffee does'..." Fox, the copper haired guy, mentioned sarcastically. Hearing about the stuff just made me want to gag - I hate coffee...

"Very well then," Glynda began as her face contorted to disappointment at the news before turning to me and continuing, "We will have to continue without her, for the moment..."

'Saved by the damned bell,' I thought to myself in relief.

"For the moment, we need to get your fellow student acquainted with how the process works for creating a mechshift weapon," she said in an almost nonchalant voice. That got me scared for a moment as I panicked and asked, "Whoa, wait a minute, isn't this like something that takes years of education to understand like engineering or rocket science?"

"Why would rockets have a science of their own?" Velvet asked me in morbid curiosity. This got me even more concerned so I simply said to forget that last part. Glynda answered my question regardless, "Mr. Spectrum, even first year Signal students can perform a weapons construction with the ease of use technology that we have... Granted, maintaining such weapons is the hunter's duty and responsibility to uphold but each weapon comes with its own instructions on how to dismantle and reconstruct it based on the wielder's preferences."

I was absolutely lost... I thought it'd take an absolute genius to do all that. Evidently, Velvet saw my concerns and tried to put them to rest.

"There are five actually simple steps to follow when making a brand new weapon," she began to explain, "The first and most obvious is to pick out what form or forms you want your weapon to assume. You can find out which weapons feel best suit you over at the Stock Weaponry stand. The second step is to choose a transformation method if you want it to transform. If not, you can skip this step. Once these have been picked out, you then need to decide on what materials you wish to make the weapon out of. You can find charts on what all the materials do for each component of your weapon over by the forge. After that, for the final two steps, it's just a matter of actually forging the components necessary and finally piecing it together like a jigsaw puzzle or a model kit."

'Hmmm... Sounds like even a total idiot can't screw this up unless he's actually trying to sabotage his own build... Also explains why just about everyone has their own handmade weapon instead of an heirloom like Jaune...' My thoughts whizzed through my head on multiple different weapons combinations before one thought struck me in particular... But I needed to make sure it was actually possible before I did anything with it. I turned to Professor Goodwitch and asked her how many weapons I could forge at any given time.

"You can forge as many as you feel are necessary for your fighting style, Mr. Spectrum," she answered with a small smile that vanished as she continued, "I must warn you, however, that, due to the nature of mechshift components, upgrading existing weapons is best left to licensed professionals."

"Well there goes my idea for helping Jaune out with his shield..." I whispered, but Fox heard me regardless.

"If you wanted to help the guy out, you could just make him a brand new shield and call it a gift," he suggested. The idea wasn't all that bad, to be honest, I just didn't know how Jaune would feel about it... Then again, I kinda did promise him that I'd help him with it...

I mulled over my choices until eventually I came to a decision that would ultimately dictate my course of action for the remainder of my time on Remnant... I looked back at the others and said, "I think... I think I'm more comfortable being on the front lines, but need some kind of ranged cover to help compensate for being so small..."

"That is a wise choice, my friend," Yatsu said, holding his fist out for what I assumed was a knuckle bump before speaking again, "I and my teammates will do what we can to aid you." I smiled and returned the favor, but... Before I had realized what I'd done, the damage was already dealt.

The big guy cringed the moment my fist made contact with his larger one before he held it and yelled out in pain, "YEOWCH!", as he held his presumably injured hand with his free one. I instantly panicked and tried to apologize, "Sorry - my bad! I'm still trying to get used to my ant strength!" This shocked all present members of Team CFVY whom stared at me in shock.

"Ant..." Fox started with Yatsu finishing right behind him with, "Strength...?"

"You mean to say that you are an Ant Faunus?!" Velvet asked in an almost excited tone. I simply chuckled nervously and scratched the back of my head before asking, "I guess Professor Goodwitch didn't mention that, did she?"

"No, I had not," Glynda said as she watched the scene play out with an amused look in her eye despite her scowl, "And it was for the simple fact that I had not anticipated their reactions to such news."

"Before we go off track," I interjected, "I'd still like to apologize for hurting you, Yatsu-"

"No problem," Yatsu interrupted me as he put his good hand on my shoulder, "As you said, you're still getting used to your strength. More than likely you've been raised by people who are able to handle your full strength, no?"

"Er... something like that?" I said in a more questioning tone than I would have liked... "Regardless, I need to find something that suits my style... Something that I can throw with ease to help increase my range quite a bit or shift into a gun to give a slight boost to both range and power..."

At this, Velvet perked up and asked, "How about a shotgun?" The idea actually wasn't that bad; shotguns normally have an okay medium range and are really powerful - especially in close range, and they are also relatively quick to reload... But I didn't think one was going to put me on par with the rest of the students... "That's a good idea, but... I don't think one shotgun will cover it..." I said as I walked over to the stock weapons and picked up a 'small' inline-barrel shotgun that was as long as my arm was from mid-bicep to my fingertips, "I... I think two would be a better option."

"Nice choice for a firearm, but you still need something that you can increase your melee range with, as you said," Fox complimented as he pointed towards the melee weapons available. I was tempted to pick the Chakram up, but decided against it as it was A; too big, and B; not really shotgun efficient... I picked up many different weapons from daggers to mauls and even swords to see just what worked best. I kept the longsword as a reference point for a future project, but I still couldn't find any right fits... That was before I saw a simple, small hatchet that had a straight shaft on it. If I remember dad's old stories, it was called a tomahawk; a kind of all purpose axe that could be used for woodcutting or, as he put it, people killin' by being used for hand-to-hand or by being thrown. I picked it up and inspected it before nodding and holding up both the tomahawk and the shotgun to the others. As I did, I proclaimed, "These are what my weapons will be based around." They each complimented me on the choice of weapons before leading me to a computer that showed all kinds of mechanisms as well as metals and materials to use in the construction of the weapon.

As I followed their guidance, I soon found myself practically drawing out what the weapons would look like from my own imagination... Eventually it was time to finally put the weapons together... And whoo boy... They were a force to be reckoned with.

In their tomahawk mode, the blades were black with a blue bite on one and a red bite on the other, tall but long enough that I could use them as swords, and the curved, black shafts allowed me to grip the weapons easily yet still allow for the ability to throw them at a moment's notice. The eye of the heads each had a gray, circular device with golden circles inside it that showed where it split apart during the transformation sequence. Along the poll of the head, both barrels for the shotguns could be seen shortened yet ready to extend when it transformed. The chambers for the bullets were inside the cheeks of the heads if I remembered right. On the shoulder of the shafts were the trigger and trigger guard for each one along with a button on each side that activated the transformation sequence and another on the back of the shoulder for the reload mechanism. When I did this on one of them for the first time, the head of the axe split apart and spun over my hand with the barrels extending and pointing backwards until the head halves met with the barrels. They continued to rotate until the barrels eventually clicked into place connecting to the chamber which moved itself to just in front of where the eye of the axe used to be. As I looked at the shotgun forms, I noticed that the top barrel was wider than the lower one. The blue bite of the blade now ran along the bottom of the shotgun. As I pressed the button for the reload, the entire front of the shotgun split off from the eye of the axe like a shotgun would when it was being loaded; and all it took to close it up was an upward flick. I pressed the transformation button once more, and the blade parts again spun over my hands, except this time the barrels retracted and traveled the opposite way until they rested back where they were in axe mode.

I gave a few experimental swings of both weapons before finally deciding that it was what I was hoping for. I smiled brilliantly at my feat, no matter how small it seemed to those present; I had made my own weapons. Velvet clearly seemed proud as she immediately took a picture of the axes before congratulating me. Yatsu and Glynda also gave their compliments on the styling of the weapons, but Fox looked like he had something bothering him... And when he spoke, I realized what that was.

"Those are all well and good..." he began, "But what are you going to call them?"

That... was actually a good point... I knew it was common to name things after colors, but these were truly unique; to me at least, and as such deserved names just as unique... Unfortunately, I kept thinking of a certain death-themed shotgun user from a shoot'em up game I played which lead me to that company's other hit... And that's how I thought of the names...

"Plague... and Pestilence..."

* * *

xXx

* * *

And there you have it; the reveal of a new villain AND Dichro's weapons have been made! I just hope it is good enough to pass for a chapter this time around... Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it, and until next time...

See ya next game!


	13. Not a chapter

Hello...

It seems that a lot of you don't seem to like the fact that Dichro is effectively trying to "blend in" despite having something as overpowered as the GGD...

And if you can't accept that... Then I can just delete the story in three day's time.

To all of you that truly enjoyed reading this story, it pains me to do this to you... But a point must be proven.

I won't accept being insulted for doing what I enjoy.

Good day.


	14. AN: I am filled with DETERMINATION!

Everyone that reads this...

I just want to go on the record and say...

I mess up.

I mess up my life more times than I can count. I look down at myself harshly each time I do this. And now... Seeing all your reviews... I realize that... This was one of those times. I just... I feel like utter crap for trying to do this to all of you... And I want to apologize - to each and every one of you who wish to see me continue this story.

But I won't lie and say "This won't happen again" or try to make a promise I cannot keep... Because I have to be honest...

This HAS happened before and it WILL happen again.

I won't sugar-coat it; I have a rather huge tendency to think of myself as the single worst person in the world - so bad that even Adolf Hitler would be ashamed to know me.

I just wish I could make up for putting everyone through all the bull I'm putting you through...

But the next best thing would have to be saying this: I WILL keep going.

I won't be consistent, and everyone probably knows that by now, but I will do my damnest to keep going.

Like all of you, I will do my best to stay DETERMINED.


	15. Truth Be Told

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

I wanted to start off by addressing the issue that sparked me nearly deleting this story...

Dichro getting weapons when he has the GGD...

To those of you who view this as a negative and have said as such... Well lemme put it to you like this...

Does Bruce Wayne go around saying that "He's Batman" by carrying his utility belt around everywhere?

Does Peter Parker go around clinging to walls and ceilings when in public places without his suit?

And best of all... Does Lelouch give away the fact that he's Zero by showing everyone his Helmet when he's not wearing it?

If you answered "Yes" to ANY of these questions, then congratulations...

You are living in a dream world - and it is time to wake up! I dunno about you, but ousting yourself as the masked hero is not and will NEVER be my idea of a good idea. With great power comes an even greater responsibility. You may try to deny it, but there DO and WILL exist people who will attempt to abuse you or your power, try to take you out before you have a chance to defend yourself, OR manipulate you by using those close to you if they realize who you are. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that Dichro is trying to avoid and the very reason he now has weapons.

Because he NEEDS to blend in.

And the only way he can blend in is by being a student at Beacon, and how can he be a student at Beacon if he doesn't have a weapon that he can use IN PUBLIC!?

Honestly, it's like you WANT him to get himself AND those he's trying to protect killed.

Okay, to everyone else, the rant is over and I'm sorry you had to go through that... As for the actual names of the weapons...

I'm a Death Knight fan - so sue me. XD Plague and Pestilence are just tools of the trade for them. Oh and to whomever said that this was two of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse... I thought it was War, Famine, Plague, and Death... Oh well...

Before we go on with the questions, I'd like to make it clear that the man that appeared in the last chapter is NOT Kuroto - not entirely at least. Take a page out of Betoran's book; think of him as... the Error Sans of Kamen Rider.

Now that we have that out of the way, it's time for the questions.

Fiction Fan 369, I have to say no to him using Plague and Pestilence in Puzzle Gamer form... 1; they are still incomplete, and 2; the armor forms over anything that's touching the body and that includes holstered weapons. As for a rant from Dichro...

Dichro: *shoves me off screen* I'll front this one.

Me: OI! You're not supposed to be in here!

Dichro: Well screw you too, buddy - you made me this way. Anyway, to answer your question, I am royally ticked off! How many times is everyone going to call me short!? And the fact that I'm shorter than even Ed's VA and Ed himself!? That just irks me all that much more! So much so that I just wanna punch the nearest warm body into the next century!

Me: Try it, and you'll find yourself on the business end of an eraser.

Dichro: *cringes* I'll be good...

Me: Good... Now - *grabs Dichro by the collar and pants leg before throwing him off screen* GET OUTTA HERE! *the sounds of kitchen equipment clattering is heard* Okay, now that HE'S taken care of...

Raidentensho, he's not going to reveal his Semblance if he can help it. As for Ozpin... He won't try anything simply because he's not truly a 'manipulator' type. He already stated that people would hunt Dichro down just for his Semblance if word got out and one of his highest priority is the safety of the students which is second only to protecting the world from Salem. To answer your final question, things will be bouncing around a bit until the plot kicks into full gear.

Demons Anarchy of Pride, this Kuroto's data was copied during the transfer to Proto Mighty Action X Origin after Parad re-infected him with the Dangerous Zombie Bugster Virus, but became corrupted as it split off from the original. I'll let HIM explain it when the time comes.

The Mind Master, the members of Team CFVY/CVFY (still don't quite remember how it's spelled...) do not know his secret nor will they know if Dichro has a say on the matter. This Kuroto will, unfortunately, be a big bad as he is a corrupted version. And yes, he will use bugsters, but not in the way you think.

Now with that all out of the way, we can finally get to the next chapter! Oh wait, I forgot the disclaimer... Lemme see... Here it is.

Kamen Rider, RWBY, and all characters associated with these franchises belong to their respective owners; I only own Dichro/Steven and the mysterious Kuroto Copy.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

"That's... a bit odd for a pair of names..." I heard Fox say as I continued to examine the weapons, though individually this time around. I had set the blue trimmed one, Plague, onto the workshop table before turning my attention to it's brother Pestilence, the red trimmed one, and answered, "It may be odd to you, but to me the names are symbolic." I was getting an odd sense of imperfection - like it wasn't quite complete yet.

"Symbolic of what, Dichro?" I heard Velvet ask curiously. As I continued to muddle on my thoughts, I merely replied, "Symbolic that even the darkest of instruments can be used for good." For some reason, don't ask me how or why, I thought about guitars which lead me to guitar strings which made me think of the strings on Penny's weapons... That's when the idea came.

"That's it!" I shouted out. Evidently, I must have caught everyone by surprise because I heard Velvet yelp before I turned around and saw her nursing her ears. With a nervous chuckle, I apologized to the Bun-Bun for being too loud before Glynda asked me what I was on about. "My weapons," I began, "Even now, they feel incomplete but I know how to finish them off! I just need to contact Blake first and -" Before I could finish that sentence, I saw Jaune running up to us in his Beacon uniform shouting, "Hey!" As he reached us, he leaned forward with his hands holding himself up on his knees as he panted heavily and said, "Sorry... for being... so late... Haaa I feel like I'm gonna die..."

"You okay there, buddy; you look like you ran all the way here from Vacuo?" I asked him in genuine concern.

"Not quite, but it definitely feels like it..." he said as his breathing finally became controlled. "I slept late... Didn't have breakfast... Missed the appointment I had set up so you could help me with my shield... Ran all the way here -"

Glynda interrupted his ramblings saying, "Mr. Arc, you must realize that the schedules set up for the armory are nowhere near as strict as appointments set up for the infirmary, do you? And besides, the armory time-slots are on a first come, first serve basis; meaning if no one else arrives before you then you can take as long as you need so long as there are spaces available."

"Sorry, I just... have a bad habit of keeping up with schedules..." the poor guy said rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"Regimented upbringing?" I asked in a deadpanned voice.

"Eh... Kind of... I mostly have my sisters to blame for that..." the blond knight said with a shrug before noticing Pestilence in my hand and pointing at it. "That your new weapon? Nice."

"Weapons, Jaune..." I corrected him as I picked up Plague and held them aloft, "I'm a dual wielder - like Ren."

"Oh... Cool," he simply said. I chuckled before setting them down and pulled out my scroll as I asked, "Now does anyone have Blake's contact information, and, if so, how the hell do I put it in here?" Yeah, I have to be honest... I was NEVER any good with smart phones - that was my baby sister's territory. Jaune filled me in on how numbers, or "codes" as they're called here, worked and typed up the code for Blake's Scroll before showing me how to find mine. Thanking him, I hit what looked like the dial button and saw the call was getting through.

"Hello? Who is this?" Blake's voice called out from the speakers I guess of the scroll. In reply, I simply said, "Yo, Kit-Kat."

"Dichro, don't ever call me that again, okay?" I chuckled as she asked me of this and simply obliged by saying, "Sure thing, Blake. By the way, your weapon... More specifically the ribbon you have on it... Do you have any more of it?"

She must not have expected that because it took a few seconds for her reply to come in... And boy did I regret asking it. "Why? Did you want to experiment with Yang some time?" she asked sounding almost dead serious and no shame in her voice at all. With a groan, I rubbed my eyes with my left index and thumb before I replied sarcastically, "Yes, Blake, I want to TOTALLY dress up as a gothic girl and complain non-stop about how life is miserable..."

"Sheesh, I was only joking..." she said laughing a little.

"Ha ha, jokes on you," I retorted with a smirk, "But you are partially right; I wanna see if having that kind of ribbon on my weapons would work. Basically, I'm kinda copying you."

"I don't see it that way since you said 'weapons'; just be lucky Ruby isn't here right now," she started to say before I heard the sound of the bed springs groaning as if Blake were getting out of her bed. "I'll see what I can find and if not, I'll try to get Weiss to get one or two for you."

"Much appreciated; thanks," With that, I hung up; or at least I think I did, and closed the scroll up before turning to Jaune and saying, "Now then... I think I have an idea for you..."

"Is it anything that requires like long range accuracy or anything like that?" Jaune interrupted. I sighed and simply told him no before resuming my suggestion.

"What I'm thinking of is a front line way for you to use your greatest skill and weapon to your advantage," I said circling him while holding my chin as I pretended to think on it, though in all honesty I already knew what to suggest to Jaune.

"Um... My good looks and my sword?" Jaune, you're an idiot sometimes. Cunning and scary as hell, but still an idiot.

"No, your brain, you numbskull!" I exclaimed as I rapt my hand against my temple before holding my head in pain... Damn that ant strength is going to get me killed one day... Poor Velvet was giggling up a storm, but I continued with my exposition, ignoring her almost outright. "What I mean is we need to give your shield a weapons upgrade that will take advantage of that mind of yours and multiply it by a hundred before unleashing it on your enemies. And really, only one weapon is on the top of my head when I think about it..."

Yatsu spoke up asking, "What kind of weapon would that be?" I turned to the giant student, smirked at him, and said one, single word.

"Mines."

Goodwitch eyed me with an incredulous look before asking, "Why mines, Mr. Spectrum?"

"Simple really," I started to explain as I shrugged my shoulders, "Mines are viewed as a smart man's weapon; a hunter's trap for his prey, so to speak. Jaune wouldn't have to do much save for consider where to place them and then when the time is right..." I held my right fist up with my thumb pointed up before bringing it down over the side of my index finger making a clicking noise with my tongue, "Boom - pop goes the Weasel."

Jaune glanced at me like I was some kind of shady dealer as he asked, "Do you... really think I can pull it off?"

"Totally! You've got the brains for it, big guy; you just need the confidence," I said before leading him over to where I had made my weapons, "If you want, you can preserve your heirloom by making a brand new shield; and a new sword if you really wanted to."

"Yeah, let's just stick with a new shield..." Jaune said nervously as he looked over his options.

* * *

)-A Few Hours Later-(

* * *

Call me crazy... but getting Jaune's new shield was a LOT harder to deal with than me getting my weapons... Turns out that mines are actually a rare commodity here which complicates things. They aren't expensive, mind you, considering that they use a special blend of gravity dust as a sticking element and a blend of blast and energy dust as the most common ammunition - and the actual triggering mechanism was actually cheap as dirt too, just a simple little spark emitter from what Goodwitch said; but the problem is that there is such a low demand for them that when people finally order them, shops tend to run out very quickly unless ordered directly from the Schnee Dust Company. Talk about cornering the market, am I right?

Anyway, that aside, the other issue was actually getting the measurements for the shield itself. Something went wrong with the forging process and because of that we had to backtrack a few times to find out what went wrong. Turns out that Jaune typed up a wrong code that glitched the system out, but when the staff fixed it we were finally able to make a rather impressive shield - a white kite shield that was curved along the middle designed with golden rivets along the edges and the symbol from his old shield, the two crescents, right smack in the top middle. It was a bit longer than the shield Jaune had so it couldn't be used as a sheath for his waist, but it was perfect for placing it on his back and carrying it that way; plus the actual mine launcher itself was tucked away in the very middle of the shield under a hatch - all he had to do was pull the trigger once and it would open the hatch to reveal the launcher and then pull it again to fire, and to hide it away he just had to hold the trigger down for a second. Yatsu and Velvet suggested the shape and length of the shield respectively while Fox was the one who suggested he make the shield out of a more lightweight metal than what his old one was so that he could carry it easier, but, due to the steel dust infusion he chose, it made the shield that much stronger than his old one - I was actually proud he made that choice on his own.

But, all good things come to an end... Before long, Coco finally reared her 'ugly' head... Don't get me wrong, I don't think the girl is 'bad' but she's just one of those people I tend to hate simply because of her "I don't care what you think, you're going to do this because I say" attitude... Or what little I saw of her anyway... As soon as she popped in and Velvet moved to introduce her, I just grabbed Plague and Pestilence and flat out left without a word. Latching the tomohawks to my belt loops, I walked as far as to the courtyard statue when Velvet caught up to me and tried to ask what was wrong. I simply told her that it would be too complicated to explain but that the short answer was "I'm not in the mood to deal with people like her."

I didn't even bother waiting for a reaction as I simply walked away towards the dorms, but I didn't get three feet before my scroll went off. When I opened it, I saw a message from Ozpin saying, " _Come see me in my office. We have something important to discuss before we get involved with your training._ "

Hoo boy, that wasn't good news at all. As I turned to face Beacon Tower, a thought hit me; Yang was my soulmate, or bondmate as the staff tended to refer to either of us, and because she's able to sense my feelings she could no doubt feel my guilt... That made things more difficult to hide the absolute truth from her, so I decided on something I felt had to be done.

I typed up a reply saying, " _Let me get Yang first. Because she's my bondmate, she has a right to know the truth as well._ " My reason for doing this was that I wanted her to trust me just as much as I trusted her; I don't want any walls or chasms between us. If I hold out telling her this any longer, then it will just end up with her hating me and feeling betrayed without a cool head to think - and I didn't want to be on the receiving end of one of her beatdowns... I continued walking to the dorms, though at a slower pace, waiting for a reply and got one when I was just outside the door.

" _Make it quick, then. You are correct in that due to being your bondmate this concerns her, too._ "

With that, I nodded and went inside the building hunting for team RWBY's Dorm; when I found it, I raised my hand to knock on the door to see if anyone was in there when I heard someone, Yang actually, saying, "Don't bother, nobody's in there right now."

I looked over to the owner of the voice and saw Yang smiling at me in that familiar cocky way that she gives to the rest of her friends. I smiled back slightly before saying, "Hey, Yang... You're actually the person I was looking for." I could feel her confusion as I watched her smile vanished as she asked why I was looking for her. "Well... I got a message from Professor Ozpin saying that he needed to see us, as in you and I," I told her nervously. Clearly, she caught onto this and asked, "Does this have anything to do with Ruby?"

"What?!" I exclaimed before I held my hand up and said, "No, no no - Nothing to do with Ruby, Blake, Weiss or even Team JNPR. In fact... It might be better if you avoided telling them about this." This only got her concerned as she raised her eyebrow. I simply sighed and shrugged before I pleaded with her, "Just... Just trust me on this... Like I trusted you to unlock my aura... Please?" That was all she needed to hear, apparently...

With that, she nodded and, together, we walked to Beacon Tower. Yang took notice of my weapons but didn't bother asking about them, simply giving me a quick "Cool axes." as we walked. Normally, I would have made a pun about them and her quote, but even I knew when there was a time and a place; and this was neither of them. We approached the tower and entered to find a pair of guards at the door... That's new; I didn't think they were here 24/7 or something... Telling the guards and secretary the reason for our visit, we were shown to the elevator and allowed to ride it to the top; where Ozpin's office was. As we arrived, the elevator doors opened to reveal Ozpin was with two other occupants, one of which we recognized as Glynda Goodwitch, but the other was a middle-aged man with graying black, spiky hair, red eyes, and slight stubble along his jawline wearing a gray dress shirt with a long tail, black dress pants, and black dress shoes with a red, tattered cloak and a necklace with a crooked cross-shaped pendant to complete the ensamble. Looking at his hands, I also noticed he was wearing a ring on his right index finger with two other rings on his right fourth finger. Looks like three out of four of Ozpin's group now knew about me if Qrow was here. But as the doors opened, it sounded like we caught them in the middle of a conversation.

"... and trust me when I say that this young man is far from ordinary; you have not only 'my' word on the matter, but you also have Glynda's word as well since she and several others were witnesses to his feats," were the ending words of Ozpin's statement that we caught.

"And I'm telling you, Ozpin, that I do not train pipsqueaks unless either they go to Signal Academy or their names are Yang Xiao Long or Ruby Rose," Qrow retorted.

"You may wish to ask her yourself, then, as she fought Dichro first-hand," Glynda said, motioning to us. Qrow looked in our direction with what I guess was his version of caution as we walked out of the elevator. "Hey, Uncle Qrow!" Yang greeted cheerfully as she waved at him, "What're you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that, Firecracker," Qrow retorted rather lazily, before Ozpin spoke up. "She came at the request of me due to certain... circumstances..." Qrow glared at the man as if he were trying to burn holes into the headmaster's eyes as he asked, "What circumstances?"

"She and Dichro are bondmates," Ozpin said curtly and briefly. The look on Qrow's face when he initially heard this was one of surprise before it relaxed with a small smile appearing before he said, "Ah, so she unlocked his aura, eh? Lemme guess, she has a Red bond or a Green bond with him?"

"Actually, Qrow," Glynda interrupted, "It's a Golden bond." Qrow's disbelief and surprise returned as he turned to Glynda before looking at me and then at Yang. "Sorry, I... Out of all the people I expected to get one, Yang was definitely NOT on the list," he spoke in a rather slow, for him, way... Almost like he was still processing that info.

Yang, however, wasn't as slow on the uptake as her uncle was when she spoke up, aggravated at his words, "HEY! What's THAT supposed to mean?!" The old man did this weird cross between a cringe and a shrug as he answered, "Sorry, Firecracker, it's just... You aren't exactly the type to be pinned down..."

"And it's because of this unexpected turn of events that she has to know as well," Ozpin spoke up. Qrow turned on the headmaster with a glare, but Yang spoke up before he could retort, "Know what? What's going on?" Looks like now's the time for me to face the music...

"Yang... Do you remember when I said that I'm from outside the four kingdoms?" I asked her without so much as looking at her... I couldn't tell what she did, but I could hear and feel the confusion in her voice as she gave her answer, "Yeah... Why?"

I closed my eyes as I inhaled slowly and sighed before turning to her and looking her straight in those lavender orbs of hers. "Well, that was a half truth..." I stated flatly, "The whole truth is... I'm not even FROM Remnant at all."

* * *

xXx

* * *

And that's it for the new chapter. Also, as a final note, the other two announcements WILL remain up as a reminder for me to keep going. What will happen now will depend heavily on what happens IRL, but until then...

See you next game!


	16. A Dusty Old Qrow

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls and welcome to another chapter of The Paradox of Remnant! Sorry for the delay for this chapter; I figured I could go ahead and take a break from writing for a bit but I'm not quitting it just yet. Please bear in mind that I have not done a filler chapter yet, because...

I can't decide on when and how I should start it... I mean I have the actual way of how things line up, but I don't know when it should be and how it should begin...

I know, I'm terrible...

Now, before I move on, I'd like to say thank you all for giving me another chance and I'm going to keep climbing this slope.

Since there are no questions this time around, I think it's about time we got back to the story.

I own nothing but Dichro/Steven and the Kuroto Copy.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

For how long she stared at her bondmate, looking for any sign that he was lying or going to burst out and say "Surprise, I was joking," Yang couldn't tell... All she knew was that his face had a solemn sense of regret; as if he were delivering news that her sister had passed away unexpectedly. She had no idea when or why, but she eventually started to chuckle. Her chuckling gave way to an odd laughter that grew more manic by the second but then slowed down as she noticed no one was laughing with her. She simply looked to everyone around her before asking, "H-he's serious... isn't he? He-he's telling the truth?" At Ozpin's nod, the blond brawler glared at the dichromatic young man and was about to demand why he hid this from her, her sister, and everyone else until she was interrupted when Qrow put a hand on her shoulder; firmly gripping it as he pointed her attention to him.

"You need to calm down, Firecracker," Qrow said in a warning tone, "Otherwise, you're likely going to repeat what happened when you thought it was a good idea to take a toddler to a shed out in a Grimm-infested forest..." Her face immediately turned ashamed before she looked back to her bondmate apologetically.

"I already know what happened," Dichro said simply, without a trace of lying in his voice, "You were simply looking for your mother. You put yourself and Ruby's life at risk because you used up all your energy just to get there, but I can understand WHY you did it." Her eyes went wide in surprise at hearing this - only her uncle, dad and sister knew about that. She looked to Qrow who shook his head before saying, "Sorry, but I didn't tell him... Turns out Ozpin was telling the truth afterall..."

"Indeed," Ozpin interjected, drinking from his mug for a moment before speaking, "Dichro comes from an alternate reality; one where the world of Remnant is nothing more than a... 'web show', was it?" At Dichro's nod, the headmaster resumed his exposition, "Because of this, he has seen events that have yet to transpire as well as events that would have happened had it not been for his interference."

"I also know things that are currently happening RIGHT now and events that will happen in the immediate future," the Ant Faunus spoke in a matter of fact tone, "I also know, to some extent, WHY your mother left." Yang's eyes went wide at this and was ready to have him tell her when a thought hit her - she knew that he knew events that would have happened... But does that mean it would be safe to even talk about things like that? With that, she shook her head before saying, "You know what... I don't care; I don't care why she left. I just want to find her and talk with her - get to know her even a little."

"Good luck with that -not trying to be rude or anything, but you're the very reason she left, though not intentionally," Dichro said as he held up a hand to stop whatever comment she was about to make, "What I mean is, it's some arse backwards tradition from her and Qrow's old village that she still abides by - she's not really supposed to be in contact with you until she feels you're strong enough to survive on your own. If your life needs to be saved, she will only do so once and that's it. Once she catches wind that you're looking for her, if she hasn't already, she's going to make sure you NEVER find her; but she'll always be able to find you."

This news shocked all, though Ozpin didn't show it as he simply stared at Dichro, but Qrow who simply stared at the midget as he pulled his flask out before popping it open and gulping down some of its contents. Glynda merely glared at the man before turning her attention to Yang in concern for the young student; said student's expression was blank and emotionless even as she sighed, but Dichro could feel she was hurt at hearing this - it wasn't the answer she was wanting or hoping for, but she finally had it... What she does with it now, though, was another story. Still, something was bothering her - quite a few things, in fact. 'I wonder,' she thought to herself, 'does this mean that gadget of his came from his reality as well? And what DOES happen in the future?' Soon enough, she realized that everyone was eyeing her expectantly before she spoke, "Look... I understand you're worried... But... I finally have an answer. It's not a GOOD answer, but it's more than enough for me to stop looking for her." She looked back at Dichro in curiosity as she asked, "Still... What DOES happen in the future? And did that Gizmo of yours come from your reality or something?"

"The GGD..." the Ant Faunus corrected, "And no, it did not come from my reality; but rather another one born from a TV show."

"So a Kamen Rider is supposed to be fake to you as well, huh? And you still didn't answer my first question," the blonde brawler interjected annoyed.

Dichro sighed in exasperation before reluctantly continuing, "It... It's hard to say... During the Battle of Beacon... You found Blake fighting her ex-partner, Adam Taurus, and tried to confront him... But... You wind up losing your arm... and your consciousness... The last time I saw you in the show was..." He stopped, unsure of how to say it... Yang sensed his uncertainty and put a hand on his shoulder as she told him to just blurt it out and get it over with - like pulling off a band-aid. He inhaled deeply before finally saying, "You practically bit off Ruby's head for trying to cheer you up."

The sounds of clockwork gears clicking were all that pervaded the room. Yang, herself, stared in disbelief before shaking her head as she thought, 'Maybe asking what happened wasn't such a good idea after all...' She looked down at the dichromatic young man as she said, "There's no way I'd ever do that," but the uncertainty in her voice was all the adults needed to know she was trying to fool herself. Dichro, however, could feel her own uncertainty and simply shook his head in a negative as he said, "Yang, don't lie to yourself like that... You know that you're just as liable to blow up at Ruby as you are your worst enemy. It was the situation you were put in that caused you to do so, though - a situation that I wish to avert if at all possible." This eased the blonde brawler's mind somewhat, but the uncertainty still remained. Steeling herself, she made a silent vow; 'I swear...' she thought to herself, 'I swear that I will not become that cold - not to Ruby, Dichro, or anyone else unless they deserve it...'

"There's even more," Ozpin finally spoke up, jarring the blonde brawler's thoughts from the prediction her bondmate gave her as he continued, "Do you believe in fairy tales?"

"What, like 'Peekaboo with Fluffy Bunny' or something?" she asked in return. This shocked Dichro, Ozpin and Glynda as the latter professors looked at her uncle for an explanation. 'Wait, Fluffy Bunny's actually a thing in Remnant?!' the Ant faunus wondered in shock. Qrow merely shrugged and said, "Taiyang was a little too overprotective, so I don't doubt that she won't know what you're talking about." With that, the headmaster nodded before turning back to Yang and asking, "Let me rephrase it, then... Do you know the legend of the Four Maidens?"

"Yeah, not word for word," Dichro interrupted a confused Yang, who was going to ask what he was talking about, "but long story short: There was an old man in the woods somewhere - I forget if anyone ever mentioned the place or not - who refused to leave his shack until one year he was visited by four women who came during their respective seasons; spring, summer, fall, and winter, coaxing and encouraging him to come outside and experience the world. When he does, he thanks the women by granting them a boon; their nature powers. That about sum it up?"

Ozpin stood stunned at the crass display towards their folklore and merely blinked a few times before simply saying, "Umm... It's a rather... 'Butchered'... telling of the story... But it suffices..."

"So lemme get this straight..." Yang interjected in a deadpanned expression, "Dichro is from an entirely different world than Remnant, has seen the future of our world, AND that these 'maidens' all of you are talkin' about are real?" Said Ant Faunus nodded as he replied curtly, "Yes. ONE possible future. And more than yes. In fact, there's one underneath the school right now." This little tidbit surprised Yang wholeheartedly as she tried to wrap her head around everything. "Okay... I have to say..." the blonde brawler began as her expression became more exhausted looking, "I can kinda see why you kept all of that a secret - that's a bit of a headache... I need to sit down; or... Lay down..." With that, the poor girl fell flat on her back though somehow still retained consciousness even after hitting the floor and saying, "One of the two, doesn't matter..."

"Well you would have gotten nosy sooner or later," Dichro reasoned as he sat next to her on the floor, "Let's be honest, the bond would have made you suspicious of me if you kept feeling my guilt spike all of a sudden." Yang could only nod in understanding, but her bondmate wasn't done yet. "That aside... I also don't want any rifts between us. We're in this together until the end, Aibou." She chuckled with a small grin on her face as she looked over to him and nodded her appreciation. "Thanks," she said, uncharacteristically quiet. Dichro caught this and smiled as he said, "Just returning the favor; afterall, you didn't HAVE to unlock my aura."

A cough caught the attention of both students' attention as they turned to the source. Qrow gave the two a stern gaze as he spoke up, "While I don't wanna interrupt such a tender moment... We still have bigger issues to deal with..." He pointed at Dichro as he said his next part, "Like how YOU know who it was that attacked the Fall Maiden and how to deal with your training..."

"I'm afraid there's far more at stake than the identity of the Fall Maiden's attacker, Qrow," Ozpin interrupted as he nodded to the young Ant Faunus, who simply nodded back and pulled out the GGD as he and Yang stood up. "He's right, Mr. Qrow..." Dichro started as he held up the device, "This device... It's a LOT more dangerous than you think. Inside the Gashat Gear Dual, or GGD, lies a virus that is more dangerous than all the Grimm in the world combined..." As he explains what the Bugster Virus is capable of, Yang's eyes widen in realization when she remembers her bondmate snapping at Ruby for even trying to touch the device; she knew he was trying to protect her, but she didn't realize just how dangerous the situation her half sister was in really was until now.

"... How I survived using it, I'm not sure to this day, but I do know this; only I can use it without it instantly killing me... That's not to say it won't do so later on," Dichro finished his exposition as he awaited the other two adults' replies. Glynda merely nodded in approval at understanding why he was so protective of it, but, as he took a swig of his flask, it was clear that Qrow was annoyed at the concept of something more dangerous than the Grimm existing and made his opinion verbally known.

"I'm nowhere NEAR drunk enough for this..." the man said as he re-capped his flask, "Listen, the only reason I'm even here is to train you; and to do that, I need to know what you're capable of - as a Huntsman."

"So you're willing to take on the task?" Ozpin queried as he donned a soft smirk on his face. Qrow simply stared at the headmaster with a quirked eyebrow and asked, "After hearing all of that the kid has to go through? He'll be lucky if my training will help him at all. Besides, I still need to see what he's able to do on his own before taking him under my wing." Glynda shook her head before turning to look at Dichro as she said, "I'm afraid it won't be much; he's been trained in a rather intense version of Taiyang's style called 'kickboxing' which is essentially unarmed combat. What's more is he just recently got his weapons today and said that they are still 'incomplete'."

"All the more reason we need him to start using his weapons now; the more options he has to fight with, the better," Qrow explained as he walked over to Dichro and put a hand on the Ant Faunus' head, being that his shoulder was too short to reach, as he said, "See ya outside in a few minutes... I've had enough exposition for one afternoon." With that, he walked into the elevator and rode it down to the bottom floor.

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I watched as the dusty old crow left the office in concern knowing full well that I was in for a hell of a time. Turning back to Ozpin, I nodded at the headmaster before saying, "If that's all, I think I'll go ahead and leave..." Calling out Yang's name, I turned my attention to her and offered, "If you want, Yang, you can go do whatever you want to get your mind off of this." She hesitated as she opened her mouth to speak before finally allowing the words to form, "I'm actually going to just follow you around... It'd help me out if I did, anyway."

I simply nodded with a small smile before turning towards the elevator.

* * *

)-Outside Beacon Tower-(

* * *

It didn't take long to reach the tower entrance and leave through the doors when we both noticed Blake walking up to us; or more specifically, me. She waved as she greeted us, "Hey, Dichro; Yang. I was coming here to see if I could find you, but looks like that wasn't really needed. Turns out Weiss and I both had one ribbon each to spare." As she handed a pair of ribbons, one black and one white, I smiled as I realized my luck just barely got better; taking the offered ribbons and unhooking Plague from my belt loop, I wrapped the black ribbin around the shaft a few times before tying it in a knot. With that done, I tied the other end of the ribbon around my left wrist before clipping Plague back to my belt loop and repeating the process with Pestilence and the white ribbon. With both weapons secured, I looked up to see Yang giving me a perplexed look as Blake had intrigue on her face.

"That's... an interesting way of fighting..." Blake noted as she had watched me doing all that work, "Wouldn't bracers work better for keeping the ribbons secured, though? And not to mention a latch of some kind to keep the ribbon secured to your weapons." I simply shrugged saying that if I could get those done, I would - which wasn't a lie. I had every intention of finding something a little more removable for me to use on my weapons, but with no lien and already in debt; as far as I could tell at least, there wasn't much I could do.

"Besides," I began to explain, "I've got a training exercise to get to soon." Blake nodded in understanding before wishing me good luck as she left, with me barely getting a chance to thank her for the ribbon and to tell Weiss I said thanks as well. I looked around and found Qrow waiting by an open area leaning on a lamp post with his arms crossed. I walked over to him with Yang following behind me as I waved at him; his only reaction was to stare at me with a raised eyebrow and only spoke when I was within earshot, "Well took ya long enough. Let's get this going, then - this will be a spar between you and me." I cringed slightly at the thought of having to fight Qrow Branwen himself... He must have noticed this because he shook his head and said, "Don't worry; I'll keep my weapon in its sword form, just try not to be too tense or else... Er... Why do you have ribbons on your wrists?" I merely unclipped Plague and Pestilence from my belt loops and held them aloft, showing the other ends of the ribbons which caused Qrow to smirk. "Oh, that's why," he stated as he drew his weapon and turned it into it's sword form, "Now then... Ready when you are..."

'I am so not ready...' I thought to myself in dismal depression, 'but... Here goes...'

I slammed the blades of the axes together a few times before I stood with my legs slightly spread apart, my left in front of my right, as I held my weapons up close to my chest while my right foot was only touching the ground with the toes. As I got ready to fight, Qrow was already dashing towards me, his sword drawn back for a slash, but he simply went past me to my right and stopped just behind me. As I turned and tried to block with Pestilence, he made an upward slash at my back that connected and caused me to stumble slightly forward in pain before he moved to a downward horizontal slash at my front. His speed nearly prevented me from blocking, but it was only by the grace of luck that Plague happened to be in place that stopped the strike from connecting. I swatted the sword away with Pestilence before I threw Plague at him, without using much of my strength, with a vertical toss - to which he dodged by jumping into the air. I grabbed the ribbon before it gained too much slack and flung it up at him from his left; he blocked the strike effortlessly as Plague struck his sword instead of his side. I looped the tomahawk around before bringing it down on him as quickly as I could, but he deflects it to his right this time. Before it could hit the ground, and as Qrow landed, I pulled on the ribbon and tried to bring it back to my hand; this, however, did not happen... As luck would have it... It smacked me in the left eye with its shaft. "GAH! Damnit!" I cried out in aggravation as I covered my left eye. I didn't even notice Plague landing on the ground next to me until I started looking for it.

"You have trouble dealing with naturally quick opponents, I take it?" Qrow asked as he walked up to me while I picked up Plague. I merely looked up at him, with my left eye still closed, and shrugged as I said, "Hardly dealt with any to begin with... Doubt I'd last long against Ruby, to be honest." With that, he nodded before rushing up to me with his sword following alongside him before slashing diagonally from his left. I barely bring up my weapons in time to block the attack, yet this time he didn't just go straight into another attack; instead, he started to push against me as he said, "Then let's see how you do against someone your own speed." So he was holding his speed back in favor of trying to overpower me... In hindsight...

This was a mistake on his part.

With little effort, I literally fling him off my weapons, causing him to stumble quite a bit, before I flung Pestilence at him. Just as he dodges with a side hop, I flung Plague at him from the side while simultaneously pulling Pestilence back towards me. He ducks the attack, dodging it just as easily as he did the first, but my assault continued; neither weapon returning to my hand as I continuously fling both tomahawks at him as if they were makeshift boxing gloves, yet not a single attack hits as he continuously dodges me. I soon gave up and pulled both weapons back until only a single foot of ribbon was left before I started to spin them around; Plague being spun counterclockwise while Pestilence was spun clockwise. The speed at which they spun rapidly began to increase until all I could see where blurs similar to copter blades. Add to that a whistling sound I could hear and it made me think for a moment I was wielding some mystical artifacts or something. I soon let go of both weapons, not knowing exactly where they would go but hoping they would at least go for my target; they shot skyward and dragged me up several feet with them... 'Oh crapbaskets!' I mentally cursed myself, 'I'm an idiot!' I did something that, at first, seemed like the dumbest idea ever and curled into a ball. That action unintentionally brought Plague and Pestilence down upon where Qrow was standing and actually managed to destroy huge chunks of concrete as the unintended intended target narrowly dodged out of the way. I soon crashed onto the ground on my back, bouncing a few times, before finding myself facing a rather pleased Qrow.

"Nice moves there, amateur," he said with a chuckle and a smirk as he helped me up. While I was reeling my weapons in, I noticed the damage I had caused and turned pale out of fear and hastened my efforts to retract my weapons; this didn't last long though as Qrow put a hand on my shoulder and said, "Don't worry about the damage... We'll just say I did it." He smirked once more and said, "You've got potential to be a long range powerhouse with those weapons of yours. Problem is, you lack the precision and co-ordination necessary to make full use of them - at least for now." I nodded at his words as I rubbed my left eye once more, looking at Yang and opening it when I knew Qrow wasn't able to see. Channeling my concern for it through our bond, she nodded with a smile that I reciprocated as I made one final rub before turning to her uncle.

"That said..." Uh oh, there's the 'but'. "You need to also learn to use your weapon's other forms if it has any," he finished as he looked at Pestilence before asking, "Any reason why you didn't transform them?"

"No ammo," was all I said. At this, Qrow's face met concrete sidewalk in a face-fault. As he recovered, he rubbed his head and sat up before asking, "You're joking, right?! What kind of idiot doesn't carry ammo?!"

"The kind of 'idiot' that just made their weapons TODAY," I looked in the direction the retort came from and found the source of it was the very person I had tried to avoid for most of the day; a teenage girl with fair skin, short dark-brown hair with wavy locks on one side of her face; dyed with a gradient that starts in dark brown and transitions to caramel, and dark-brown eyes. Unlike her teammates, she wasn't wearing her Beacon uniform; instead, she opted to wear her long, cocoa-colored shirt with a dark brown waist cincher, long, dark brown trousers with ribbons on the left side and a brown belt with bullets, a CRAP ton of accessories I couldn't even name, black aviator shades, and her dark brown beret. There was no way I was getting out of this confrontation this time...

Coco Adel had laid her eyes on me, and she wasn't going to stop until she got her 'kill'.

* * *

xXx

* * *

And that's a wrap for this chapter. On the previous chapter, I just wanna say that... the whole AN for it was written before I got spammed to heck and back by you-know-who... Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed this one and I also hope I didn't go TOO out of character with anyone... Oh well, until the next chapter... Wish me luck with that filler...

See ya next game!


	17. Fashion Senseless?

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls - I am SO sorry for the long delay in this chapter but I had to take a break from writing! There have been a LOT of things going on IRL that I needed to take care of recently, not least of which was me ending up having my allergies catch up to me and then wind up getting sick... So... I'm sorry...

Also, it turns out I actually missed a few questions from a previous chapter, so I'll try to go over them and last chapter's as quickly as I can.

Raidentensho... Yes, chains would be a good idea in theory but they have a fixed length which makes them cumbersome even for someone with super strength - just because someone is capable of carrying something doesn't make it any less uncomfortable/annoying to deal with should it be too long. For Jaune's shield, I have to be honest; he only really made his design in the series as a reminder of someone he lost - i.e. Pyrrha. Since that won't be happening, neither will his shield's redesign. As for the weapon switching... That'll depend on numerous things. For starters, Dichro only suggested a secondary weapon to Jaune because A; it was altogether easier just to make a new weapon than it was to update his current ones, and B; he needed something to compensate for his initial lack of training while also covering ranged defenses to aid him in combat. As for Zwei... Yes, but that would be TOO obvious, now wouldn't it? XD

lol Okay, but real talk, I'll go over your current chapter questions. I do not think he will be getting the Legendary Rider Gashats of any kind and I also don't think that's how they work in the first place... As for the story telling... That's gonna fall under the "need to know" basis...

Fiction Fan 369, He won't have to. That's right; Chronus in the story WILL BE on Dichro's side... Granted they won't know they're Chronus until they transform, but still...

So with that out of the way, let's begin the new chapter!

Disclaimer; I don't own anything but Dichro and the Kuroto copycat.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

A few days had passed since my... 'unannounced guest'... arrived and made such a scene... As angry as I was for his appearance causing the deaths of two of my followers, I had to admit that his reason for their deaths was amicably reasonable; due to the nature of what he dubbed as a "Gashat", the volatile energies would have just as likely hit my children and myself as it had with Tyrian and Arthur... Now that I have had the time to muddle my thoughts together, it really does seem like it could have just as easily hurt me as it had them; though I refuse to openly admit it out-loud, let alone in the audience of this... "thing"...

Yes... Unfortunately, "thing" is the only way I can truly describe the being in front of me; especially as he continues to inspect my precious children one-by-one as his grin grows wider... "Fascina-na-nating..." he spoke as he draws a hand over the Beowolf's lower jaw. Despite its best attempts, my child's bites refuse to connect with the "thing's" flesh as it phases completely through with the man never flinching even once, "A biological phen-n-nomenon that diso-solves the instant of its death as a means of rap-r-rapid decayment... And its sole ex-ex-existance is to kill humans, did-did you say?" I merely nodded before explaining how they did not require nourishment nor sleep which only further heightened his curiosity.

"Fascinati-ti-ting," he said before turning to me and asking, "Might I be inc-inclined as to request to try to... Ex-Ex-Experiment-ment on these... 'Grimm'?"

"How do you propose to do that which no human or faunus has ever done?" I retorted as I glared at him with my arms crossed. His smile only grew as he replied, "Why... I wish to ma-ma-make a Grimm of my own, of course..." My eyes widened in shock at this declaration; this creature was stupid enough to WILLINGLY wander to the birthing pools and OPENLY experiment on the very essence that gives my children life - My own blood?! I glared at him and openly voiced my opinion on the matter, but nothing I said would dissuade him. Instead, he retorts, "The reas-s-son I wish to-do so is from ob-observations... What I can-can surmise, mak-making a Grimm should be no d-di-different than making a new gam-g-game..." As he said this, he waved a hand at the Beowolf he was inspecting; with some strange orange 'dust' appearing from his fingertips and covering the young Grimm's snout before vanishing and causing the youngling to flinch and convulse in pain. With a snap of his fingers, the Beowolf suddenly turned into that same orange dust in an instant with that dust condensing into his palm.

As the dust took on the form of a miniaturized version of the Grimm he just destroyed, it was clear to me that he would do as he wished regardless of my wishes... With much reluctance and abhorrence...

I lead him to the birthing pools of my children...

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Beacon Academy-(

)-Dichro's PoV-(

* * *

Looks like this is it - the confrontation I never wanted...

I don't know how long I actually stared her down, but it felt like hours before Coco finally spoke up and said in that overly-confident tone of hers, "You have some nerve to just up and leave my team in the lurch like that. Do you have ANY idea how worried they were when you up and left like that?" I furrowed my brow as I continued to glare at her before turning away and walking towards Yang. I didn't even take three steps when I felt a hand grabbing my shoulder in a tight grip. "Hey," Coco called out, "I'm talking to you, so the least you can do is listen."

"Why should I give you the same privilege you've never shown anyone else?" I quickly shot back at her. This seemed to catch her by surprise as the grip on my shoulder nearly all but vanished. I took this chance and grabbed her wrist before flinging her hand off me like I was throwing away trash and resumed walking.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, "You don't even know me, so don't act like you do." I merely glanced back at her before stating, "I don't HAVE to know you... I can tell who you are just by how you're acting RIGHT now; you're TOO confident for your own good. You think you are above reproach - that you can do no wrong in your eyes. Lemme put that to rest; NO ONE is above their consequences - anything you say or do CAN hurt not only yourself but others as well." That was a bit of a lie because, to some degree, I DID know her and by the gods I hated her... She's that one character that just oozes confidence to the point of being obnoxious... There's being sure of yourself, like Yang was before... That incident... And then there's being cocky - exhibit A being Coco here and exhibit B being Cardin Winchester, the jerk... "How can you even say that, Dichro?" Yang asked as she walked up to me, "At least give her a chance to defend herself first before you go making claims like that."

I rolled my eyes at the notion and was about to tell her that I would refuse to listen to anything she would have to say... When Coco, herself, said something COMPLETELY out of character...

"Am I really that easy to read?" she asked in a genuinely concerned tone. I flinched a little at the tone but retained my stern look as I turned to her and merely nodded. She sighed before she took off her shades and looked at me like she had walked out of a funeral before she spoke up, "Look... I think we just got off on the wrong foot... I didn't mean to come off as someone so aggressive that you take offense to it... I just really care about my team... Seeing them get so used to someone THAT quickly was a shock. I mean sure they're a friendly bunch, but Velvet's the most shy person I know - and here you come and she's practically throwing herself at you." Oh dear god, I shouldn't have read between those lines - I felt the heat rushing to my face in embarrassment at the thought, but Coco wasn't finished, "When you up and left just as I came in... I saw how hurt all of them were; even that blond kid... They thought they did something wrong." Okay, that one kinda stung a little; I know what it feels like to blame yourself for something going wrong, but even so I held my ground as Coco continued, "I only came to find out why you did that, but I should have known it had something to do with me... So I'm not asking you to be BFFs with me or anything... All I ask is that we at least TRY to tolerate each other... For Team CFVY's sake. Whadaya say?" She held a hand out in a gesture to shake, but I simply swayed my head left and right as I said, "Sorry, but that's not going to cut it... If I do this, then Bun-Bun will owe me a huge favor."

This got her on high alert as she glared at me in anger and hostility before asking through gritted teeth, "Just what kind of sick, perverted little scheme do you think you're going to make Velvet do?"

I simply smirked before shrugging my shoulders as I answered, "Sorry, but it's not what I'm going to make 'her' do... It's what I'm going to make her NOT do." This got the reaction I was hoping for as she clenched her fists and tensed up ready to strike me at a moment's notice. "Then what, pray tell, is it you're going to make her NOT do, then?" she asked, once more through gritted teeth. My grin only got wider as I looked at her with my right eye closed before wagging my left index finger at her and saying, "Lil' Bun-Bun's not allowed to take pictures of my weapons anymore, capiche?"

Aaaaaaaaand face meets concrete once more, though I could feel Yang's shock and heard her hitting the ground along with Coco AND Qrow. Coco was the first to recover as she outright yelled, in my face, "YOU LITTLE SNOT-NOSED BRAT - I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA TAKE ADVANTAGE OF VELVET OR SOMETHING!" I laughed at her reaction before saying, "Not my fault your mind went into the gutter," and resuming my laughter which became hardier as her face turned crimson at this. Her cheeks were puffing up but before long, she looked like she was struggling to keep something inside her mouth... After a few seconds, I found out what that something was...

Laughter. She looked like she couldn't help herself any longer as she laughed with me. "You have GOT to be the WEIRDEST little squirt I've ever met," she said with her still red face beaming in a smile, "It's been ages since I let someone get the better of me like that for enjoyment's sake. Haha... You know what, I take back what I said earlier - you're alright for a trickster." I simply grinned before saying, "Yeah, but I've got a 'latte' show you about how I work. I mean, really, it's so much that 'Affogato' make lists about it." That got her laughing harder and Yang to join in, yet Qrow groaned before whispering something I couldn't make out over the laughter...

"Oh sweet Dust, you're killing me!" Coco laughed out as she clutched her sides. I simply turned to Yang and called out, "Hey, Yang, better fetch the 'coffee'n before she bites it!" This got both of them to laugh harder before the poor fashionista grabbed my shoulder and pleaded between laughs, "No more, please stop!" I simply smirked and patted her back before apologizing.

"What in Oum's name are you apologizing for?" she asked, her laughter finally calming down some as she continued to speak, "No wonder they liked you so much." I simply nodded before taking on a more serious expression. "I was serious, you know," I started out, "About you having that vibe of superiority and how I hated that kind of thing. If you can dial that confidence back to what you had it just now, I think we can work to some kind of an agreement..." And I meant that, too. Seeing her actually act like a normal human instead of someone who thought she was better than anyone because of how she looked and what she can do was literally the last thing I expected to see her doing. She needs her confidence shaken in order for her to make it out of what's to come.

She simply smiled and nodded as she said, "Yeah, I get it... I'll tone it down if you let me buy you a new outfit at least." I sulked at the thought of going shopping again... Yang groaned before muttering a quick "Not again..." which Coco and Qrow caught on to. Team CFVY's leader was the one that asked what she meant by that, to which I answered that both Teams RWBY and JNPR tried every store they could think of with none of them selling anything even remotely decent without looking completely childish or treating ME like a little kid... As she heard this, Coco grinned at me and said, "Then you haven't been to the right store, then." Oh no... there's that cocky attitude again... Without another word, she quickly grabbed me by the arm and started to drag me off to the Bullhead port... Leaving a stunned Yang and Qrow behind, might I add...

* * *

)-Later That Day-(

)-Vale City-(

* * *

Okay... This was not what I was expecting...

To be honest, I had next to no idea what I was expecting when she started to describe it in full, but...

Whatever it was, this wasn't it.

When I went clothes shopping with the teams, we literally went to every big, brand-name clothing store they could think of, which made me start to think that they knew a few TOO many places to go shopping... But this place... It was actually a little on the run-down side, if I was honest. The actual building had some hairline cracks on the walls and pillars; barely noticeable unless you were right in front of the store like I was, but still there nonetheless. The aforementioned pillars were along the corners of the building and lining the frame of the front doors. Above the doors was a sort of balcony with letters that spelled out the store's name... and what an odd name it was...

" _Pin's Point Precision Fashion_..." I read aloud trying to understand it and compare it to everything else I've seen in Remnant, "That makes no sense; I thought we named our kids after colors, so what gives?" Coco simply chuckled at my confusion as she answered, "Hehehe, that's the owner's LAST name - this place was actually his grandfather's before his dad inherited it and then he inherited it from him. His first name is actually Robert, but I tend to call my cousin 'Bobby'." I muddled the name around before I finally figured it out.

"Bobby... Pin?" I asked, which got a nod from Coco. That got me slapping my face in disgust - it was SO simple I overlooked it... "Bobby pins tend to be black and it falls in line with his love of fashion and clothing," she explained before walking to and opening one of the doors, holding it open as she motioned for me to enter first saying, "After you..." I didn't want to sound macho or like I was trying to be sexist, but I couldn't help but think, 'Aren't I supposed to be doing that for her?' I shrugged at the thought and just walked in. The place looked more like a refurbished old movie theater than it did a clothing store; everywhere I looked, I saw maroon velvet carpeting and golden-brown walls. The actual stands that held the clothing were simple hanger stands that held all kinds of different styles of dresses and suits; from the barrenly simple to the exaggeratedly extravagant and every nook and cranny in between. There were also wooden shelves that held different articles of clothing from shirts to socks to pants and even underwear. I had to double take as I noticed a pair of lace-frilled black boxers... "Seriously?" I asked aloud as I motioned to them.

"Don't ask; it's complicated to explain 'either' side of that," was all she said as she continued to walk through the store as I followed her. We soon reached a bar-esque stand with a cash register and some displays of different kinds of accessories on the wall behind it. On either side of the stand were display stands of different types of shades, glasses, bracelets, and even little knickknacks like bobble-heads. I could hear something rustling behind the bar as if moving stuff around before a somewhat masculine voice harshly whispered, "Damnit, I KNOW I had that Oum damned pearl polish kit around here somewhere..."

"You know your mother would throw a fit if she heard that come out of your mouth, Bobby," Coco said suddenly, shocking the poor man into hitting his head on the bar itself. As he bolted up from under the bar, I noticed that his straight-as-a-nail chocolate brown hair reached down to his knees. He also wore a tickle-me pink dress shirt with black dress pants and a black tuxedo vest with multiple tailor items hanging from it like tape measures, pin cushions, scissors his upper left chest pocket, and spools of thread in all the other pockets. On his face was a pair of rectangular, wire frame spectacles with a chain to keep the glasses from falling off him completely. 'I have to say,' I thought to myself, 'This guy DEFINITELY fits in with the theme around here...'

"Oh if it isn't my FAVORITE baby cousin AND customer!" he cried out in what I presume was excitement as he rushed around the bar and pulled Coco into a spinning hug. She chuckled rather awkwardly as she said, "Yeah, it's me... and please don't do that again..."

"And what, treat you like I do my OTHER customers?" Bobby retorted as he waggled his eyebrows... I felt a shiver run down my spine as he did that - if he treats his COUSIN like this... Then how does he treat his customers?

"About that..." she began as she motioned to me, "He's going to be your newest customer... Though if what I heard from Velvet is true, then I'll be giving him some Lien to pay you for it." At this, the man raised an eyebrow in confusion as he asked what she heard; to be honest, I was interested in this too. Turns out, Velvet got ahold of Ruby and managed to pry out the cover story about how I was kidnapped from outside the kingdoms and dumped into the Emerald Forest I had given to Yang who then gave it to Blake who THEN shared it with the rest of Team RWBY AND Team JNPR... And I call it a cover story because I still have no godly idea HOW I even got here in the first place... When he heard this, he made an exaggerated gasp of shock before exclaiming, "And you were going to try and 'pay' for his clothes and leave yourself in the lurch?! I don't THINK so - his entire first wardrobe will be ON the HOUSE; NO exceptions!" Coco's shades slanted on her face as she looked at her cousin in shock; a sentiment I shared - that was WAY too generous and I tried to explain, but he kept butting in saying, "No exceptions, I told you!" He took out his tape measure and started taking measurements of me right where I stood, despite my protests, and jotted down what he found on a notepad he pulled out of his vest...

How long he kept at this... I don't think I will ever know...

When he was done, however, he nodded and simply put the notepad back into his vest and started to pace before grabbing a bunch of random, at least to me, articles of clothing from different parts of the store. He eventually got it all and shoved them into my arms. "There you go," he said, "This should help you out, darling, until I can actually custom make your clothes. Trust me, these will PALE in comparison to what 'I' have in store."

"Yeesh, you sound like you live for this kind of work even after 'clothing' time," I joked with a smile. Coco giggled at the joke, but Bobby... Well... He either ignored it and didn't show it or he completely missed it by a mile because his reply was, "It's 'closing' time, not 'clothing' time Mr. ..."

"Dichro," I answered for him, "And to be honest, I was only 'vest'-ing with you. I mean what kind of guy would I be if I didn't know how to make 'fashionable' jokes?"

Coco started making this like cross between a choke and a chuckle for some reason with Bobby's confusion only growing. "Now you've completely lost me..." he said; no sense of humor at all...

"He's a 'pun' lover, Bobby," Coco said as she started to laugh. He looked at his cousin like she grew a second head and I snickered as the thought hit me, 'Oh god, this guy's never heard of puns?! Seriously?!'

"Dude, you have GOT to get out more..." I pointed out as I walked to the front door when I suddenly heard some shouting outside. "What the hell?" I whispered as I dropped the clothes in my arms and ran outside to see a nearby Dust Shop being robbed...

By a bunch of people wearing black suits with white armor and white masks...

Lead by a girl with pink and chocolate brown hair with white stripes along the pink half...

'Ah crapbaskets...' I thought to myself, 'Things just got a lot more difficult...'

* * *

xXx

* * *

I know it's shorter than usual, but here's the chapter... And the story thus far... I'm hoping that things can go a little bit better now that I've gotten things 'somewhat' calmed down... But please do expect more chapters to come in the future. I REFUSE to let this die like the other stories did.

Until next time...

See ya next game!


	18. Boss Stage - Bloody Treat

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

I um... Think I need to apologize to all of you for something before we start...

I don't think I can write the filler chapters...

That's right... I said it... My mind just keeps jumping from one idea to the next, trying to come up with things meant for the story but things that don't affect the main story are just...

I can't keep the focus for it... It's like one of those "Do what must be done and nothing else" moments where I have a specific goal I want to complete and any side tasks will just derail me...

For this, I am truly sorry... But I cannot write any filler chapters... Therefor, please do not expect them from me... I'm sorry to have upset any of you...

To answer your question, Ciel Blaze, I don't think so as I already mentioned that none of the main rider gashats will be appearing.

This means all forms of Ex-Aid (except Mighty Brothers XX), all forms of Brave (except POSSIBLY Legacy), both forms of Snipe and all forms of Laser will not be appearing. That being said, I may make an exception if I feel it's necessary...

I don't own anything but Dichro, Kuroto-wannabee, and Bobby Pin. Also, I'm bumping the rating up to M after this chapter hits. You'll see why...

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

As the dichromatic young man stared at the scene unfolding before him, his mind began to wander across multiple trains of thought as he tried to piece together why the young tri-color haired girl; who wore a white jacket with a pink interior, brown pants, black gloves, black and white boots with very high heels, a brown corset under the jacket curved in the middle and at the bottom which exposed her hips, and a multitude of necklaces, which hang haphazardly around her neck; was even here to begin with. 'Why the hell is Neo here?!' Dichro kept thinking to himself as he looked on and grasped at his weapons, almost ignoring the door opening behind him as Coco and Bobby both ran out to see the commotion. 'There's no way I can handle her on my own...' he deduced upon finally giving up trying to figure out the why of the situation, 'Even with Coco's help, I don't think we can do much... My only real choice is to go Para-DX and abuse the HELL out of my semblance; even if it means she catches me using it...' At this thought, his left eye turned red as he drew Plague and Pestilence from his belt loops, only to hear someone calling his name.

"Dichro, don't just stand there, let's take care of these creeps!" Coco called out, transforming her purse into its gatling gun form. As she says this, Neo turns to the duo for a moment before falling victim to the urge to double-take as she spots the Ant Faunus. She stares in genuine, wide-eyed shock at the young man for a few seconds before pulling out a scroll and looking to either side of her. She quickly types something up on the device before holding it up slightly and looking around in genuine confusion as a monotone voice played out, "Did someone lose an angry, red and blue midget running around?" With a twitch of his antennae, he visibly appears to grow angrier as he scowls and glares at her, but internally he was having a conflict with himself; 'I know she outclasses me,' he mused, 'but there is no way I am letting her go free because if I did, she'll just hurt more people and eventually Yang... I WON'T let that happen.'

"You take care of the White Fang, Coco," he called out as he readied his weapons, unaware that his left eye had turned the same shade of red his right eye was, "The ringleader is mine." Even more confused than before, Neo stared at the young boy wondering just what he was thinking when his ally opened fire on the White Fang members. When she turned to see what was going on, Dichro threw Pestilence at the distracted girl with all his might - ant strength included - and watched as it flew at incredible speeds. The ice-cream-themed girl only had seconds to respond as she brought her umbrella up to deflect the weapon, just as her opponent threw Plague and pulled back on Pestilence, before finding herself having to bend over backwards to avoid the new attack. The dichromatic boy flung Pestilence from the right side in a sweeping motion to try and catch her with a horizontal attack as he pulled Plague back to him.

The blade connects with her side as the weight and speed combined cause her to fly into an alleyway. The Ant Faunus considered his next move as he pulls his weapons back to him; grabbing them by the ribbon just below the shafts, he thinks to himself as he dashes to where Neo crashed, 'Perfect... If I can get her away from prying eyes, I can henshin into Para-DX and use my Semblance to its fullest potential.'

Neo, on the other hand, was pulling herself out of some trash cans that she was sent into as she propped herself upon her umbrella. 'What in the world is he thinking going straight for me by himself,' she contemplated as she readied herself by opening her umbrella, 'No matter... I'll just toy with him a little; he seems severely lacking in the experience and finesse departments, so it should be easy to rile him up and make him slip up...' Just as she finished the thought, her opponent sent his weapons straight for her with him being dragged through the air with them. She managed to roll out of the way of the axes, but only barely dodged the sidekick aimed for her head with a back-flip. 'Okay, nevermind...' she reflected to herself, 'This guy's already too riled if he's sending himself flying willingly. He's also a long-ranged melee, which is something I haven't seen before, so I need to make sure to get out of here...' A grin formed on her face as her brown and pink eyes swapped colors with each other. 'Looks like playtime's over-' As she tried to use her Semblance, that's when it hit her - her eyes grew wide as saucers in shock and disbelief, staring into nothingness as she feels something blocking her Semblance. Her opponent's red-trimmed weapon slammed into face, causing her to stumble backwards as she tries to come to grips with what's happening.

'Bingo, b*tch...' Dichro taunted internally as he proceeded to fling Plague and Pestilence back and forth at his target, whom finally recovered enough to open her umbrella and used it to deflect the attacks. 'What's going on?!' she asked herself in a clear panic, 'Why is my Semblance not working?!'

After a barrage of attacks, the dichromatic young man finally launched both weapons at her at full force causing both weapons to skid over the top of the umbrella. With one mighty heave, Dichro pulled as hard as he could on the ribbons; this caused the weapons to latch onto the umbrella by their beards and literally yanked the umbrella out of Neo's hands - allowing all three weapons to travel back to Plague and Pestilence's owner. With his arms spread out, the Ant Faunus caught the umbrella which made his weapons fall off it from the recoil to the ground. With his opponent's weapon in his hands, he closed the umbrella up and gripped it at the top and bottom, panting in clear exhaustion, before pushing his hands towards each other. The effects of this action were instantaneous as the umbrella crumbled and bent in curved zigzags the closer his hands came together before it eventually resembled more of a pretzel than what it used to be. Her shock and confusion soon gave way to anger at the sight of her ruined weapon. With renewed vigor, she dashed straight for her smaller opponent who tried to pick up his weapons but wasn't fast enough as her left knee caught him in the gut; sending him flying backwards and crashing into a corner of another alley entrance. Barely recovering as he stood up, the dichromatic fighter grabbed the ribbons and tugged on them enough to follow him back as he went down this new area.

'Okay, she's pissed now...' Dichro thought as he narrowly avoided a spinning right kick by ducking under it and continuing down the alley, 'I can finally give her the punishment she deserves.' Turning around, he side-stepped a right punch meant for his face before thrusting his own in a jab meant for her torso; to which she merely skipped away from and landed a roundhouse kick with her left leg into the back of his head and sent him sprawling into the ground. As he stood up, panting and slightly battered, he gripped the ribbon of Pestilence and flung it at his opponent whom had to duck under it to avoid the attack, but couldn't avoid the next strike as Dichro pulled once more on the ribbon, this time towards him, and had the axe flying straight down into Neo's back. The beard caught the ice-cream-themed girl's jacket and began to tug on it as the Ant Faunus pulled on the ribbon; ripping the jacket completely in two; causing it to fall off her arms and revealing her upper torso and arms along with a slight wound on her back from where Pestilence dug into her jacket. Her corset reached just under her bust but wasn't tall enough to conceal it, though neither opponent paid any mind as they glared each other in the eyes. As she reached for her jacket and ripped it off to toss it away, it soon became clear to both of them that neither one was walking away from this fight unscathed.

)-Meanwhile-(

After seeing Dichro run off after the girl who got flung to the side, Coco resumed firing at the White Fang thugs. "Good thing I brought blank dust shells," she said to herself as she watched the weaker bullets pelt the goons and send them tumbling into the ground, dropping their cargo with them as they fell. Several of the White Fang managed to notice and started to run at her with their own weapons drawn; mostly swords and daggers with a few axes in the mix. The fashionista noticed this and turned her attention to her would-be attackers before opening fire on them. Most of them went down in a matter of seconds, but one of them managed to sneak her own way in; a Deer Faunus from the looks of her antlers, only to find herself flung away by what she thought was an invisible force.

Coco, however, smirked as she saw this and simply called out, "C'mon, cuz; you know you should be back inside trying to make sure your merchandise is safe, right?" Behind her, Bobby walked up to his cousin, wearing a strange looking brace on his right hand with 5 small spools of what appeared to be thread running to each of his fingers and thumb; each finger having a band around it near the tips and a small loop on each one where the thread was being fed to, and smiled slightly as he waved his hand and replied, "Darling, you know I can't just sit back and let these 'ruffians' have their way while they're near MY store, now do you?" As he finished this, he fed his aura into the threads and flicked his hand in a diagonal backhand which caused the threads to extend and smack several still-standing White Fang members into the walls of other buildings and several other things; one of which was a flower cart. As he brought his hand down, he wiggled his fingers up and down some which caused the threads to wrap around the weapons of some of the thugs before pulling his hand to the side as if slapping someone in the face; the end result was the shattering of said weapons as they literally fell to pieces. As the goons stared in shock at the remains of their weapons, Coco opened fire on them; sending them to the ground.

"I know but you're expected to," Coco rebutted as she held her weapon pointing up, "You did, afterall, flunk Haven Academy." Bobby's face went red in embarrassment as he glared at his cousin and nearly shouted, "I did not 'flunk' anything - I dropped out because the headmaster recommended I try to go somewhere that can actually TEACH me something I could learn!"

"In other words, they told you that lie because they were tired of you being a lazy daydreamer," the Fashionista teased with a smirk as she looked back at Bobby, whom simply flicked his hand towards a Fox-tailed Faunus that was trying to sneak his way to them; the action caused the threads to slap the Faunus away and into a street-lamp, causing it to be dented with the White Fang member's back imprint. "Quite the opposite, dear cousin," Bobby retorted, "They simply ran out of courses that I could learn from. That's initially why I had moved back to Vale before I found out about Father's theater and taking up the mantle to make it even better in my OWN way." Coco merely rolled her eyes before turning around to see the chest of the tallest person she had seen since Yatsu walk up to her with a fist in his free hand; the sound of cracking knuckles being heard as he pressed on his hand.

"So... You're the hunters causing all the trouble?" the man asked before cocking his fist back, ready to throw a punch, only to be interrupted by a swift kick to his family jewels that sent him into the air a few feet. Landing on his head and knees, he held his injured 'pride' moaning in a more high-pitched tone than what he spoke with earlier. Coco merely knelt down in front of him before taunting him, "I'm a huntress-in-training, asshole... Get it right." As she got up, she delivered a swift kick to his head; knocking him out in that one blow, before hearing something odd. It was muffled and not quite loud, but she could definitely tell it was some kind of odd music playing.

"What in the world is that?" she asked to no one in particular, though her cousin decided to answer her anyway...

"If I had to guess," Bobby started, "I'd say your friend is in a bit of a pickle." This got her a bit worried, knowing that he was still a newbie, but that worry was soon replaced with shock and confusion as she saw what was essentially a topless version of the girl Dichro was fighting against fly back first into a group of unconscious White Fang members. As she and Bobby turned to where the ice-cream-themed girl came from, they noticed someone in, what was arguably, the best looking clash of red and blue armor with a black and white spandex suit and golden trim in very fashionable places.

As she took in the newcomer, the fashionista's confusion turned into a sort of drunken realization mixed with confusion as she says, "Ohhh... Oh it's going to be one of those days, isn't it..." Her cousin merely shrugged; still as confused as she is.

* * *

)-Earlier-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I got sent reeling into a wall from a jump kick Neo landed on my head when I tried to retaliate by throwing Plague at her, but she merely ducked under it and kneed me in the gut and quickly followed it with a right hook - that hook of hers was nasty, by the way... And it looked like she was far from done as she kept attacking me relentlessly. 'I have to do something,' I thought to myself as I took another jab to the chest, 'Otherwise, this girl will kill me.' As I thought this, I came to the realization that my weapons would be no good here; especially with how little training I've had with them... So I opted with the only other thing I had besides the GGD...

My own two hands.

As she pulled out a small pike from her left boot and held it in a reverse grip, I brought my hands up in a kickboxer's traditional stance and braced myself. When she tried to stab me, I side-stepped to the left and tried to deliver a quick jab to her side. She tried to block it, but it wound up bruising her arm heavily and sending her into some trash cans. As she kicked herself out of the mess, I switched positions of my fists and feet before dashing up to here - my left fist cocked back and ready to strike with my right arm positioned to block whatever came at my head and chest. She saw this and jumped to the side to avoid the punch; prompting me to spin around to catch myself from falling forward, but it was enough to leave me open to a swift kick to the gut and send me into the same trash pile she was in. I tried to get back up, but was unable to as I avoided getting stabbed in the face by rolling to my left; clearing myself from the trash before I got back onto my feet panting. From the looks of things, she seemed ready to end it here and now... And to be honest...

So was I...

Panting, I dug into my jacket and pulled out the GGD and turned the dial to Perfect Puzzle almost immediately after I freed it - causing it to sound out its special chime as I did so.

" **PERFECT PUZZLE! What's the next stage?** "

As it played out and the screen appeared behind me, power-ups flooded the alley, shocking the girl into trying to avoid the 'attacks'. I simply smirked despite being out of breath and said, "Henshin" as I pressed the buttons.

" **Dual up!** "

The familiar screen of the armor appeared in front of me as I straightened myself - passing through me and forming the armor around my form as it did so.

" **GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

Slamming the GGD into the holster, I looked at the now utterly shocked Neo who only barely recovered enough to try and throw her weapon at me. It bounced off my chest harmlessly before she ran for me with her right fist cocked back. As she threw the punch, I caught it by the wrist and rammed my right elbow into her side as hard as I could... Though immediately wished I hadn't...

Since I hadn't let go of her hand, I heard a sickening crack of ribs with a loud popping noise; it was only after hearing the pop that I let go and... I finally saw the damage I had done... Her entire right arm hung lower down at the shoulder than it should have, indicating I dislocated her entire arm, and judging from the look of pain and shock on her face I could tell she was not enjoying it at all... Screaming a muted scream, she held onto her arm and tried to slingshot it back into place, but I wouldn't give her the chance... Instead, I ran at her and kneed her in the chest, sending her flying... Into some unconscious White Fang members... 'Damnit,' I thought to myself, 'Looks like now's the time for Para-DX to make his public debut...'

I walked over to the now bleeding girl and grabbed her by the hair before lifting her up and slamming a fist into her gut. I saw the red liquid of her life shoot out of her mouth and onto my armor before throwing her back onto the ground, but, before she could get back up, I slammed a foot down onto the back of her left knee and listened to the sickening crack of her bones. Once more, she screamed her muted scream as pain and fear took over her. She gripped her now bleeding leg with her one good arm before I stomped onto her head; holding back just enough to inflict pain while also keeping her alive. As I pressed my heel further into the side of her face, I could see her eyes looking at me with tears in them...

Almost like she was staring death in the face...

If you had told me days ago that I would feel bad about beating down Neo Politan, I would have laughed and spat in your face before kicking you in the gut... But seeing this girl's face now... It actually makes me wonder if I really am a monster...

I heard the sound of a weapon being aimed at me from behind before I heard Coco's voice calling out to, what I assumed at the time, me, "Alright, that's enough! Step away from the girl... Slowly..."

I know what her gun could do to me if she really wanted it to, but even her telling me to move away from Neo wasn't necessary... Keeping my eyes on her, I simply removed my foot from her head and stepped backwards slowly... Each step bringing me closer to Coco until I heard the clang of heavy metal behind me; shocking me out of my concentration.

"YEOUCH!" I heard Bobby cry out, which caused me to jump even more as I looked back. I was barely at arm's length from Coco and she all of a sudden couldn't lift her minigun anymore... Seriously, I need to experiment with my Semblance... As I looked to Bobby and Coco, a thought occurs to me... 'If me being near her caused this...' I mused, 'What would happen if she were away from me?' I took a few steps to the side, but not before I could hear a ripping sound, and sure enough that gun of hers went flying behind her... I would have asked if she were okay, but I was too distracted seeing how banged up Neo was...

She was an absolute mess... Blooded and bruised everywhere I hit her in both Faunus and Rider form... Her right arm stretched out at the shoulder and bruised badly where I had grabbed her wrist... Her left leg bent in the wrong angle... Even her hair was blood-clotted with blood stains falling from her mouth and tear stains running from her eyes along and down her nose and cheeks... Her eyes still wide with fear as she hyperventilated...

I could hear Coco trying to ask me something, but I couldn't make out what it was with my attention span as it was then and there... So I improvised a response...

"Your little friend ran away with his tail between his legs after he got beaten up by this one here..." I said as I pointed to Neo, "You'd do well to keep someone resilient to illusionary Semblances watching her at all times... As for your friend... If you're lucky, you might catch him at the ports..." With that said, I walked to the alley I had left through and grabbed the nearest power-up I could find; a light blue medal depicting a Rider being faded clear against a backdrop.

" **INVISIBLE!** "

I continued to walk, hearing the shocked gasps of Bobby and Coco behind me, before I ran in the direction of the Bullhead ports; I needed to keep some of my story consistent, at least...

* * *

)-A Few Hours Later-(

)-Beacon Academy Dorms-(

* * *

Okay... That... was exhausting...

I had to de-henshin just before I got to the ports and limped my way onto a Bullhead asking to take me back to Beacon... I noticed that Plague and Pestilence were clipped to my pants when I remembered that they were still loose before I transformed but thought nothing of it... As I stepped onto the Bullhead, I could hear Coco panickly call me and tried to get me to tell her what happened... I only told her that I got my arse whooped and that some guy in weird armor told me to get out of there; that he'd take care of the rest. When she told me that she had tried to ask him what happened to me and what his reply was I almost laughed then and there after realizing that I made myself sound like a complete jackass.

After we got back to Beacon, she kept trying to pull me to the Infirmary saying that there was something wrong with my aura... I refused her offer and said that all I needed was rest - and speaking of rest... Professor Goodwitch ended up seeing me and tried to suggest the same thing Coco tried to pull... I was too tired to bother going there and voiced my opinion on the matter, which got her to tell me that they managed to find a dorm room for me to stay in temporarily. It was a few floors above RWBY and JNPR's dorms so it wasn't that far to walk back to them... As I entered the room, it looked much like how JNPR's dorm is... plain, beige colored walls with a row of four beds along the wall. Locking the door and closing it shut behind me, I simply limped my way to the closest bed, not paying attention to which one it actually was, and just flopped ontop of it... As I did so, I felt a shocking pain shoot through my entire body... A pain I hadn't felt since I first transformed into Para-DX...

I pulled the GGD out of my jacket and set it on the night stand before laying back down again, thinking it might have been the cause, but once more the pain shot through me... Realization began to dawn on me as I put 2 and 2 together...

"Damnit..." I cursed at myself... "Now I know why it didn't kill me when it should have... I was infected the moment I came here..."

I soon realized that...

"I'm this world's Patient Zero..."

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

Sorry if this one felt a little rushed, everyone, but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Now we're beginning to see a little more of what's in store for the world of Remnant, at the very least, but there's still so much more to come... So until then...

See ya next game...


	19. Curiosities

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! I have big news to tell you all...

I'm discontinuing this crappy story! (Disclaimer: This is actually a really fun story to write)

Just kidding! ;P

But really, here's the ACTUAL big news. Shortly after the last chapter went up, The Paradox of Remnant has broken the twenty-five thousand views milestone - thank you all SO MUCH! Like seriously, this story was viewed THAT many times; I know some of you have read it multiple times, but it's okay - I'm glad you can read it that often and still enjoy it!

That being said, this just means I have to keep pushing out good content; or at least try to, and hope and pray I don't flub it up...

Before we continue, though, we gotta go over some things...

Hero King Gilgamesh, I have something planned for the Buggle Visor Zwei and Kamen Rider Chronicle so don't worry about that, but I will tell you Dichro will not be getting it; nor will Ozpin for anyone else wanting to ask...

Revamped Persona... *shakes my head* You just HAD to jinx it, didn't you? *evil smirk*

Raidentensho, I am afraid to say that Perfect Knockout will be Dichro's final form for this story... That's all I'm going to say. As for Raven... I'm thinking it's more her ability to be anywhere she wants at any time that Qrow was after...

Demons Anarchy of Pride, yes he does...

Ride player hary... While your sentiments are shared, this was a necessary evil because of what I have planned for Neo.

And now we can begin the Disclaimer: Dichro, Bobby Pin and the Kuroto wannabe are the only things I own; I do not own Ex-Aid, RWBY, or any other mentioned or affiliated media - they are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Earlier-(

)-Beacon Tower, Headmaster's Office-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Ozpin was many things in his life...

A savior...

A leader...

A hero...

... A mistake...

Yet not once; not ONCE in his life, would he ever describe himself as a man that could easily be stunned and shocked because of something outside his control... Yet here he was,thrice awed and frozen by the sheer surprise of the events that have unfolded thus far; all because of a single, little boy. He watched the video feed from the security cameras that only Beacon has access to as best as he could in order to learn about the boy... What he saw, instead, was a monster in the making. He watched as Dichro was backed into a corner, only for him to back his opponent into one as well. He witnessed the grizzly attack patterns of both foes. He then bore witness to Dichro's first transformation into Para-DX outside of Beacon; and then proceed to brutally beat the girl down to nothing but a visibly whimpering mess. And just when the headmaster thought everything was going to take a drastically dark turn for the worse...

He stops...

Whether it was from self realization or Coco's intervention, Ozpin couldn't tell, but either way presented hope. If it was the former, then Dichro could learn to resist the urge until he meets someone who legitimately deserves it...

'To be specific,' Ozpin thought to himself, 'the ones responsible for Amber's condition...'

This, however, presented a problem... The dichromatic boy would no doubt try to revolt in a vain attempt to regain control he never lost in the first place.

If it was the latter, then that would mean Dichro would never fully be in control of his emotions no matter what the headmaster did. This would make the boy the single, most dangerous child in the world. Either way, the results and the solutions to find them were the same...

There is no failing this time.

The headmaster continued to muddle in his thoughts as one struck him as odd. That thought being 'If Dichro was willing to risk transforming, or how did he call it... "henshin?" If he was willing to turn into Para-DX right in front of her, then he must have viewed her as either a great threat... or there's a connection between her and Salem, however small it may be.' As he looked at the footage of the girl, he began to consider what the connection may be; 'Roman,' he thought to himself as he started to tap some other functions on the screen in front of him, 'She must be connected to Roman somehow... It's a long shot, but it's our best one yet.' As he finished typing, the image of a middle-aged man with black hair and some silver and gray areas and a strip of silver metal above his right eyebrow appeared on the screen along with a deep voice that Ozpin knew all too well.

"Ozpin? What's with the sudden house call?" the man asked as he answered the call. Ozpin merely smiled softly as he replied, "Hello, James... It turns out that there's someone who may be able to lead to Roman's capture."

The man, identified as James, seemed to hesitate before speaking up again asking, "How is this person connected to Roman?"

"We've yet to figure that out ourselves, but we can't really do that without a one-to-one confrontation..." Ozpin replied, "The only problem is that she is currently in the hospital in ICU... She was caught leading the White Fang, despite being human, in a dust shop robbery. The doctors even mentioned that whatever was left of her aura after her beating is what saved her life."

"Hmmm..." was the only reply the headmaster got from his contact for a few moments before he replied, "Very well... I'll be there as soon as I can." With that, the call ended; leaving a disconcerted headmaster to muse on how the chips would fall this time. 'When General Ironwood gets involved in something, there's nothing he will not do to ensure the safety of his kingdom...' Ozpin thought as he pondered on the call, 'I just hope that he does this one in a manner unusual to himself.'

* * *

)-Valean Medical Center Hospital-(

)-An hour and a half later-(

* * *

Inside a small, simple, rectangular room, an attendant wearing a fall-colored tropical shirt sat behind her desk looking through papers and typing up information onto the computer as she thought of the things that transpired just an hour ago - she couldn't believe that there were some hunters that could go that far to stop crime as to nearly put said criminal permanently out of commission. She then thought about the poor girl who was supposedly the one behind the robbery, whom she believed was no less a victim than the dust shop owner, when she heard the doors open. She looked up to see a middle-aged man wearing a white overcoat and pants, with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie, and a white glove on his right hand walking into the room with his hands behind his back before exclaiming, "General Ironwood! What brings you all the way to Vale?"

The man simply smiled softly before asking, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could I visit someone? I heard that there was a recent White Fang attack, and that the person responsible was here." At this, the attendant went wide-eyed in shock and stuttered a bit before she spoke, "General Ironwood, sir, with all due respect I highly discourage trying to take her in. She's already in critical condition as it is - she has 4 broken ribs with another 3 fractured, both lungs were punctured with her right one taking the most damage, fractures along her skull, her right arm was dislocated completely, she has multiple torn ligaments and muscles all along her right shoulder, and that's not counting that her left knee was all but turned to dust; the doctors have even said she'll need a complete joint replacement if not an amputation on her leg from the knee down. It's nothing short of a miracle that she's even alive right now."

Hearing all of this, the normally hardened general visibly cringed as he mused to himself, 'Who on earth would be able to do all of that - morally and physically?' As he straightened himself out, his reply gave both shock and relief to the attendant, "I'm not here to take her in - at least not yet. I merely wish to speak with her on... different subjects."

"Yes, of course, General..." her reply garnered understanding as she looks up something on the computer before telling him which room the girl was in. With a quick thank you and well wishes, Ironwood promptly left for the closest elevator. His destination; the ICU recovery ward.

Minutes passed as he traveled to the ICU, preparing to see an adult woman would would be trying to rant and scream her way out of this confrontation. As he arrived, he noticed two guards at the door that weren't supposed to be there. When asked why, one of them replied that both of them were able to resist illusions due to being part of a special Valean Faunus unit. They granted him entry to the room as they stepped aside. Despite what he expected, however, he saw something that nearly broke him down. The young pink and brown haired girl, whom he couldn't really tell just HOW young she was, laid there on the bed clad in a hospital gown and bandages around her head with breathing tubes wrapping around her ears and into her nose, an IV needle in her left arm, her left leg in a cast around the knee along with a cast around her chest and shoulder. What hurt him the most was seeing the distant, thousand mile stare in her eyes; it was why he didn't like training children to be hunters to begin with - they were too vulnerable at their ages and too susceptible to life and death situations. As he entered her room, he knocked on the frame of the door a few times to grab her attention. She blinked a few times before looking in his direction curiously. He sighed as he walked up to her bed and asked, "Is it alright if I asked you a few questions? See, I'm -" She held her left hand up to interrupt him before grabbing a pen and notepad that was on the desk beside her. She scribbled something on it and handed the notepad off to him.

" _I know who you are, James Ironwood. Your reputation precedes you,_ " he read aloud. This got him to chuckle before handing the notepad back to the girl and saying, "Well I hope good things... What's your name, anyway, and why can't you speak?" The girl wrote down her answer and held it up for him to see.

" _I'm Neopolitan, but you can just call me Neo... What I've heard of you is actually a mixed bag, but it's generally bad due to my profession... As for why I can't speak... well... Some people just aren't graced with a voice at birth, now are they?_ "

"Well said..." Ironwood stated before turning his curious gaze to her and speaking once more, "Tell me... What do you know about Roman Torchwick?" At this, Neo froze before writing once more on the notepad - this time for longer than the others. She handed the notepad off to him to read it himself.

" _A lot more than I should, I have to be honest... People think I'm obsessed with him, but that's not it. It's more that I NEEDED to know if I wanted to survive. I needed to be ready for anything and everything he could throw at me. Even suicide jobs. The main thing you need to know is that he's as careless as he is cunning; and that carelessness has often had me at death's door more times than often._ "

"Something is telling me that there's a 'but' coming..." the general speculated as he handed the notepad back. Neo nodded as she took the notepad back and wrote again for a lengthy amount of time before handing it back to him.

" _You're right, there is... And it has something to do with that Crazed Red and Blue Midget. I was stupid and careless - even moreso than Roman is. I heavily underestimated him and it nearly cost me my life if it hasn't already cost me my position. The kid is..._ " James read it as best as he could, but the words were a scratched mess as he tried over and over to read it. Before he could ask what it was supposed to say, Neo grabbed the notepad back abruptly before turning to a clean page and writing down the entire sentance before handing it back to him.

" _That kid is no kid; he's a monster._ "

This garnered James' curiosity as he read it. His thoughts began to run at high speeds as he processed the information and tried to figure out how someone could have done something to scare her this much when he looked back at Neo; she was staring at her hand, which rested on the bed and gripped the covers, as if it was the only thing left - her thousand mile stare returning in full force. The general cleared his throat as he handed the notepad back and asked, "Before we get onto the subject of the person that did this to you, can you tell me everything you know about Roman and any other associates he had? Especially who he was really working for? In exchange, I'll do my best to ensure your safety against whoever was responsible for your... capture..." She looked back at him in mild shock before nodding slowly and began to write off everything she knew off the bat; base locations, which White Fang members he worked with, the names of three others that Roman and herself was working for and why. For some reason, when it came to the why portion she could never pin down what had Roman scared, but she could tell something had worried their boss at the time, Cinder Fall, enough to make her accelerate the plans they had.

" _When I asked Cinder why this was necessary, she simply said that 'An ally of ours was destroyed recently - an ally that was so powerful it would have completely cleared Beacon Academy of students entirely in the time it took me to ask that'. I guess now I understand her concerns, but she never told me or Roman - or even her own subordinates - about this monster..._ "

That caught his attention. 'Someone or something that could clear out all of Beacon Academy in a matter of seconds?' he asked himself, 'How is that even possible?' His lack of a response had the girl concerned slightly as she tried to snap her fingers at him. "My apologies," he began, "But your claim is kind of hard to believe... At least not without you describing who it is that you were talking about; otherwise, I can't keep you safe from them." Nodding in understanding, she took hold of the notepad and began to write down the description of the boy she fought as well as the events that lead to her hospitalization.

" _... and then he pulled out some kind of strange device. I don't know what it was, but it gave a name that I'll never forget as long as I live. 'Perfect Puzzle.' After he activated it, it gave him some kind of weird armor that allowed him to practically push all my Aura out of my body in the first few hits and began to wear me down to this... crippled state. My Semblance, if the guards outside didn't tell you already, is an Illusionary Semblance; I can create reflections of things that I want people to see..._ "

"And it didn't work against him, did it," Ironwood stated more than he asked. The girl's nod only confirmed his suspicions. 'That means whomever did this is a bigger threat and a greater potential ally than anyone could have ever imagined...' he contemplated on this mystery person for a second before coming to a realization he was afraid of having, 'Ozpin must be in on this mystery person... If anyone knows about this guy, it'll be him.' Turning his attention back to Neo, he nodded and said, "Thank you for your co-operation in this matter. I'll have the councils consider the information you gave me when deciding your sentence. That being said, I will also give you the security needed to keep you safe from any... unwanted visitors." She took the notepad back one final time and wrote something else in it before tearing the page out and handing it to him.

" _I honestly feel safer stuck in solitary confinement than I do here, but thanks for the help. By the way, any chance I can get my scroll back or at the very least get something that has text-to-speech? My hand is hurting from writing everything out. ;P_ "

James couldn't help but chuckle at her attempt at getting a better end of her ordeal as he said, "Sorry to say your Scroll was confiscated for a reason. Roman's code is the best way to track him down, but I feel like I might be able to pull a few strings to get something to help with communication." Neo tried to clap excitedly, but the moment she lifted her right arm she sent herself into a pain-induced fit as she gripped the cast around her shoulder and made a pained expression. Making sure she was alright, he bid her goodbye and left the room with a mission. "Ozpin better know something..." he whispered to himself as he pulled out a black scroll, with gunmetal gray trim and diamond, to dial the Beacon Headmaster's code, "Otherwise, we're officially sunk on leads to this mystery child."

"Did you find anything, James?" Ozpin's voice asked as the call went through. The general simply nodded as he answered, "Yes, but what I found is rather... Puzzling... In fact you could say it's the... 'Perfect Puzzle'." The Beacon headmaster said nothing for a whole minute, leaving Ironwood to answer for him. "So I take it you know something?"

"Perhaps it would be best if I had him explain it himself..." Ozpin stated before speaking once more, "But I advise you to keep this discrete. No one is to know his identity outside of those he revealed it to himself."

"How many, Ozpin?" was the curt response from the general as he gripped the scroll.

The Beacon headmaster hesitated before giving the answer, "Counting yourself... There's at least fifteen people that know." This was a little better than he had expected, but it was still too many people for Ironwood's taste. Seething in barely controlled rage, the general thought to himself, 'Just how long has he been hiding this one up his sleeves?' Calming himself just enough to speak, he releases an exhale of strained breath. "Ozpin..." he began, "You'd better damn well hope to Oum himself that this kid's answer pleases me... or else I'm calling your capacity to being headmaster of Beacon Academy into question."

"You will," was all Ozpin said before suggesting that he remained in Vale until the next day. James simply accepted the offer and cut the call before looking for a motel to stay in. 'Afterall,' he thought to himself, 'If what Neo said is true, then what's a few more hours of waiting going to do?'

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Co _R_ **R** _ **U**_ pT **3** _d_ PoV-(

* * *

Data Log Entry 1

Subject: Results

Entry Log: My plans to turn myself into a Bugster in the event of my passing all but succeeded. However, it also failed beyond restoration for I am no longer on Earth, let alone Japan. I have landed in another world entirely designated as Remnant. It would also appear that my appearance has caused some... Disturbances... with the local fauna and people. Evidently, my appearance into this world has caused two people to end up being killed. No matter, if they were killed then it just simply means that they were not able to handle my new godly powers - however incomplete they are.

I have managed to steal a "Scroll" from one of the corpses and found it to be of great value. It has taught me a great deal about this world and it's poor excuse for video games. I'm going to change that soon, but I need more data. And I've also read what is known on these black fauna identified as "Creatures of Grimm" and will ask to experiment upon them soon. Perhaps I can make my own Grimm as a result?

* * *

Data Log Entry 2

Subject: "Project: Hell"

Entry Log: Testing has begun. I have found that manipulating the cellular structure of the birthing pool's liquid enigma is actually quite easy; mere child's play in fact. I have already begun making prototypes for a new Grimm designated "Project: Hell". This new Grimm will be vastly stronger and superior to any other Grimm that has come before it. I have found that the Grimm feed off of negative emotions; emotions such as Anger, Hatred, Fear, Jealousy, and such.

I find such emotions to be archaic.

Instead, I will develop a Grimm that will feed on positive emotions while in a larval state before metamorphosing into a truly powerful monster that none but myself can withstand! It will be a glorious day when the project is complete.

* * *

Data Log Entry 3

Subject: Parad?

Entry Log: I can't believe my luck - and it's all bad! First I find that the process to convert the Grimm's feeding factor was more difficult than I initially perceived it to be which is setting "Project: Hell" back, and then I find out from that woman, Salem, that Parad is here on Remnant, too! Of all the beings to end up in a similar predicament to me, why did it have to be the one that sent me here?! Of course, I have this sudden sense of deja vu where I know it's not really Parad, but who else could it be?

Regardless, I have informed Salem that he must NOT be underestimated, but it was already too late... The foolish woman had already sent her newest and most powerful Grimm to date against him and it lost.

Even if this isn't Parad, I refuse to be caught unprepared...

I will instead familiarize myself with my new form and it's new powers. Powers that have never been seen before in either world. The power of Grade XX-0.

The power of Action Zombie X!

* * *

xXx

* * *

Uh oh... Dichro looks to be getting into trouble soon. Will he be able to claw his way out of James Ironwood's clutches? And what is this Action Zombie X? Hopefully, we'll find out soon. Until next time, though...

See ya next game!


	20. Solid Iron

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

Um... Listen - I've got bad news... I was held up due to a freak illness that landed me in the hospital... I could barely concentrate enough to write this AN let alone the chapter at the time I had started... So... Expect less updates until I can overcome this. That being said, things are starting to develop into something big. What's going to happen, you ask? Well I won't spoil anything so bad luck, ol' chaps. Now let's get through these reviews real quick...

DragonXZero, I think you just answered your own question... But he will be getting something... Just not in THIS story.

And before anyone asks, yes I have a sequel planned out.

Raidentensho, that's an acute observation you made; but we shall see.

Xivitai, why is Ironwood General Failure? It's not his fault that Cinder got through Beacon's defenses and infected the CCT - blame that one on Ozpin.

DarkGamerider, if what you are referring to is the armor itself then all I can say is I overdid it on the use during the very start of the story and am trying to keep it spaced out so that it's not needed/used in EVERY chapter. Hopefully, I can get the spacing down so that it's more every other chapter that he transforms in. If you are referring to the original Para-DX, Parad, then I have to apologize as the title of the story is "The Paradox of Remnant," not "The Para-DX of Remnant." Also, there's the matter of me trying to keep within 4-5k words per chapter and I WAY overdid that at the start.

And with that out of the way, it's time for the Disclaimer!

I own nothing but the mentioned OCs as well as the Kuroto wannabe. RWBY and Kamen Rider are properties of their respective owners.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Beacon Academy, Dichro's 'Dorm'-(

)-The Next Day-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

'So warm... So cozy... So soft...' I repeated to myself as I tried to wake myself up from the heavenly cloud known as my bed. Hey, cut me some slack - I've been sleeping on either the ground or the cold hallway floor and wall the past week! Eventually, though, that feeling of comfort soon gave way to grogginess as I eventually rolled on my side and propped myself up on my left arm, using my right to wipe my eyes clean; and then that grogginess was replaced with confusion and... worry?

'Oh crapbaskets!' I cursed myself, 'I forgot to let Yang and the others know I'm okay!' I bolted up from the bed and practically ran to the door, only to stop as I felt something... Familiar... on the other side. I thought of only 2 things that could bring this kind of deja vu - Either Zwei came early and was sent to the wrong room...Or Yang was on the other side waiting for me and was cross at me... Slowly, I opened the door and immediately felt a shift in weight. As I continued to gently pull the door open, I saw golden locks of hair flay out onto the floor. Right there, at my door, was a sleeping Yang Xiao Long! 'What in the world?' I asked myself before kneeling down beside her and gently rested a hand on her shoulder. Thankfully, she didn't wake up from this, so I picked her up bridal style - and I don't recommend short people doing this with tall people, ladies and gentlemen; just because you can doesn't mean it's not awkward as all hell trying to hold them - and set her on one of the clean beds. I looked over her pajama wearing form and smiled sadly as I wrapped her in the covers as best as I could, trying to be as quiet as I can in the process...

Unfortunately, that didn't last long as my Scroll started to beep.

I didn't even bother seeing who was calling as I fumbled around trying to find it and pulled it open to answer it with a quick and quiet, "Hello, this is Spectrum..."

My answer was hearing Ruby's voice panicking as she tries to explain what's going on in a single breath, but I told her to stop for a second, take a deep breath, and calmly tell me what happened. "Dichro, Yang went missing last night!" she started, "I don't know where she went but when I looked in her bed to wake her up, she wasn't there! And where were you last night?! We were expecting you back at our dorm!"

I couldn't help but chuckle at this and said, "Ruby, it's alright. Yang's here with me. She must have found my new dorm last night and slept outside the door..."

"That doesn't help!" the red reaper cried out, but I still kept my cool, despite how friggen cute she was when she was flustered, and said "It's the same door as your own Dorm, 3 floors up." With a quick nod, she cut the call as I closed my scroll up and looked back at my visitor who was still asleep even after all of that racket. "Just what drove you to come here?" I silently asked her before sighing and entering the bathroom to take care of my business.

A few minutes in, and I hear a knock at the door.

I quickly left the bathroom, toothpaste still on the corners of my lips, and open it to see Ruby in a black tank top with a heart-shaped Beowolf design on the chest and white long pants with pink roses as decoration standing there with a concerned expression. "Just try to be calm, but she's in the bed over there..." I said as I pointed to Yang, still sound asleep, before saying, "I'm not even sure how she found me, to be honest... I came straight here from Vale due to um... Certain events..."

"That's why I was worried about Yang," Ruby said as she walked over to her halfa sister, "She said she was feeling something odd going on with the bond - that something was happening to you..." Oh dear...

"She could feel your panic and your guilt..." she continued, "She thought that you had killed someone from what she could tell."

"I may as well have..." was the reply I gave. Before I could clarify, my scroll went off again. I pulled it out and opened it back up to see a message from Professor Goodwitch reading, " _Mr. Spectrum, your presence is needed in the headmaster's office at your earliest convenience._ " 'Sounds like Ozpin heard about my exploits yesterday,' I thought to myself as I took a tissue and wiped the corners of my mouth off before turning to Ruby and saying, "Sorry, Rubes, but it looks like I'm needed at the headmaster's office. Can you keep an eye on Yang while I'm away?" At her nod, I merely walked out of the room and closed the door after putting my Scroll back up.

Just as I got outside the tower to his office, I noticed someone that I knew wasn't supposed to be here walking up to the doors to Beacon Tower. As I noticed the piece of metal above his right eyebrow and fancy white suit, I recognized him immediately as General James Ironwood. 'What could he be doing here so early?' I wondered, 'The Vytal Festival isn't even going to happen until next semester - common sense dictates that's a whole month away so what gives?' I had to find an answer to THIS puzzle no matter what, so I took the initiative and approached the man as someone who's never heard of him would.

"Excuse me, sir, you lost?" I called out to him. His expression grew a bit... funny... and not 'Ha ha!' funny, either - I'm talking giving me a cross between the curious monkey gaze and the badger stink-eye kinda funny, which in itself kinda sounds humorous but it sure as hell didn't LOOK it... before he smiled at me and replied, "Not at all, young man, but I do appreciate the concern. I'm actually here to see Professor Ozpin."

As we entered the tower and walked to the elevator, I had plenty of room to play dumb this time - why would he even see Ozpin this early anyway? - when I asked, "Whatcha here for, then? Must be something important to have called you here; no offense, but you don't exactly look like a local." He chuckled a bit before mentioning that it was on a Headmaster to Headmaster basis - typical. "Well, I was just recently called to the headmaster's office, myself, " I began to explain, "Maybe I'm finally going to get told I don't belong here and am getting expelled?"

As we entered the elevator, he gave me an almost saddened look before asking almost haphazardly, "After little less than a week since the year started?" I shrugged at this, but before I could reply he pressed the button for the headmaster's office and spoke up once again, "Ozpin saw something in you - that's the only reason he let you in here. What that something is, I can't tell for myself, but I have my suspicion. If you put yourself down like that, you'll never see it for yourself."

'Good advice - wrong person needing it...' I thought to myself bitterly as I nodded at his words all the same and thanked him. "By the way..." Oh no, here it comes. "What's your name, young man?" Yup, there it is. "I'm James Ironwood, General of the Atlesean Army and headmaster of Atlas Academy."

"I'm Dichro Spectrum, sir," I answered as politely as I could, "I'm from outside the four kingdoms."

Before I could register his response, the elevator door opened up to reveal the familiar cog-work office of Beacon's headmaster. I motioned for him to go first before entering myself as Ozpin greeted us, "Welcome back, old friend... And I see you've already met the young man responsible for your appearance." That caught me by surprise because the only thing I could think of doing for requiring General Ironwood's attention was...

'Ah crapbaskets, Neo spilled the beans!' was the only other thought on my mind besides a potential arrest warrant. Going into panic mode, I turned to the general and dug into my vest for the GGD, but oddly enough both him AND the ol' Dumbledore of Remnant stopped me at the same time with James giving his reason first.

"I'm not here to arrest or punish you, if that's what you're worried about," he started off explaining with a hand raised in a halting motion, "I am here for a few things. One of which is to tell you congratulations are in order." He lowered his hand, palm up, as he continued to speak, "What you did was a bit... below civilized... but know that it is what every hunter strives to be at their best; you recognized a threat and reacted accordingly. Normally, a hunters' efforts in such a thing do not result in what you accomplished. You have single-handedly delivered a hotline connection to Roman Torchwick - a known crime boss and inter-kingdom-wanted thief -"

"Not to cut you short, but that's the second time you've cut that crap," I interrupted him curtly as I stood back up. My response caught him completely by surprise as he stood there wide-eyed in shock as I continued, "Just because I'm not a legal adult, that doesn't mean I don't know my fair share of how you military types work... You work your way through your victims' shells through kind words and praise, then burrow your way around their bodies with generous offers and rewards, and when you've finally reached their cores -"

"That's more than enough, Dichro," Ozpin said as he walked over to me and laid a hand on my shoulder, "You should at least know that James' concerns stem from seeing so many young and potential lives being lost to the cause of survival."

"It's all crocodile tears to me..." I interrupted him abruptly, causing James to glare at me irately, "The bastard couldn't care less if he has to send out a baby to protect 'Mother Atlas' and blame it on the greater good."

"Silence!" I heard the general hiss harshly, "You've no idea what I've had to sacrifice - how many lives I had to watch become perished when I could have done something -"

"It doesn't matter what you or anyone else had to do OR sacrifice," I retorted, "As long as the people are safe; as long as the big money makers are continuing to make their big bucks, people like you and the hunters of Atlas are easily forgotten!" This gave the result I had hoped; a stunned James Ironwood... 'Your iron will is legend...' I thought in triumph, 'I will enjoy breaking you.'

"Face it, Ironwood," I continued, "People like the Schnee head and the council WILL NOT care what has to be done in order to maintain their status quo, and they WILL throw people like you under the bus the VERY FIRST chance they get - I mean look at your arm and leg for crying out loud and see what they've already made you do without realizing it!" He grasped his right arm in slight shock but before he could ask, "I know the left side of your entire body is prosthetic, Ironwood, but, before I go off track, let me ask you why you did what you did to earn that damage."

"That's enough," Ozpin said somewhat softly. James nodded and said, "It is enough, Ozpin... I can understand why you wanted to keep him a secret."

The headmaster of Beacon shook his head before correcting him, "No, James, that's not why... He knows about Para-DX and your existence." At first, I was shocked and thought that he had told the general, but he held up his hand and said he got the info from Neo. 'I knew I should have made Neo keep it to herself...' I berated myself as he said, "Tell him." I didn't have much of a choice as I told James everything about how I've seen events in the future as well as the fact that I'm from an entirely different reality; about the GGD and what it was capable of; both without and with the Gamer Driver; and about my Semblance and what it can do so far.

What I hadn't known, though, at the time was that we had someone else listening in on our conversation.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Co _R_ **R** _ **U**_ pT **3** _d_ PoV-(

* * *

When I heard from that Salem woman about the suited 'hunter' that had destroyed her newest and most powerful creation, I could vastly believe my desparable luck. 'It cannot be true,' I mused, 'Parad CANNOT be here with me - the bastard BETRAYED me!' I decided to hack into the most vulnerable camera that I could find to begin collecting data for the day when I stumble upon the office of the so-called 'headmaster of Beacon Academy'... Pompous fool is what I can see if he willingly and brazenly gives his aces up like that at a heart's beat. But what should I find than the source of my stress... Or should I say 'relief'.

"My o-oh my," I spoke to myself as I listened in, "It would-ould appear th-that my so-called neme-mesis is nothing more than anothe-offworlder like my-myself-f." I stroked my chin as the young pawn brings the Gamer Driver up... "So-so, this world l-la-lacks the virus, then..." I postulated as my mind began to form an ingenious idea; an idea worthy of a god.

"I know... I'll gi-give him a gift... A gift I pla-lan to use myself in m-my own ways..." I chuckle as I mused my idea further before waving a hand in a come hither motion. Metal scraps and pieces of technology slowly glide to my hand as it spins in the air as if stirring an imaginary mixing pot as I said, "He might-t not be abl-able to use this r-r-right now... But I can-c-can use it to furt-further and more di-d-directly gather-data on this world as At-At-Atlas tries its best to ana-nalyze and replicate it." With a snap of my fingers, the metal scraps soon began to take on a familiar form; a rectangular shape that had the letters " _GD_ " on the bottom of the latch... Yet as it was... It lacked the life needed to make it work. "The only qu-question that remains n-now-now is... Where to p-p-put it?" I asked myself as I gathered the virus that was within me and nullifying it to a non-threatening level; a strange sensation filling me as I gathered an orange sphere of pixels into my free hand; before thrusting the virus into the newly constructed device; its once dark and light gray color scheme transitioning to its more common neon lime green and neon bright pink color tones. 'It would have to be someplace conspicuous for it to be noticed but not so desperate as to spawn it on his lap...' I mused before an idea struck me. I quickly scanned the rest of the facility's surveillance network and, lo and behold, there it was; the perfect place to hide the Gamer Driver long enough for one of Dichro's 'friends' to find it - a trash can! Hijacking the CCT, I found a single name on his contact list and looked for hers, only to find an even larger contact list of what I assume to be his 'teammates'. And what luck, that carrot-top girl with the insatiable thirst to demolish things was walking towards the corner the can was on with that raven-haired boy!

With my plan set into motion, I snapped my fingers and watched with a grin as the Gamer Driver disintegrated into pixels only to reappear in its new destination ; ready to be picked up by the nosy little pink-loving girl.

"This is go-going to be per-r-r-rfect." I said as I chuckled darkly to myself.

* * *

)-Back at Beacon, Headmaster's Office-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

"That is... quite the tale..." the general spoke slowly as his chin rested in his hand, "But the thought of a device that can make your own more powerful is rather intriguing. I can also understand why you're being so cautious with your forms, but-"

"But nothing," the dichromatic young man interrupted as he swung his arm across from his chest outward, "The Bugster Virus is too dangerous as it is; if it becomes released, then there's no stopping it because I don't have a level one form to separate the Bugster from the Victim."

"Perhaps you should explain why that is?" Ozpin suggested. Dichro merely nodded before saying, "A Level One form is specifically calibrated to separate the Bugster from the Victim in much the same way a scalpel is used to cut away at infected or dead flesh to save the patient. Once that's done, the operation to destroy or cure the virus begins by accessing a level two or higher form; essentially Para-DX is the finishing blow, not the first punch." This news had both men nodding grimly as James deduced, "Then that means it really will be an epidemic if even ONE person got infected." He looked back at Dichro and requested if he could examine the GGD, to which the answer he received was a great, big, resounding "No!"

"Ah um not riskin' someone gettin' killed tryin' to use this thang by mistake!" the Ant Faunus said with a slight Texan drawl. James merely smirked as Dichro blushed in embarrassment and slapped his forehead before clearing his throat and apologizing; he explained, "Sorry, I um... Tend to fall into that kind of accent when I get really mad..."

"Understandable..." the headmaster of Atlas academy stated at first, "Though it's a bit of a shame that I won't be able to see it in action."

"Who said I wouldn't use it?" Dichro rebutted quickly, "Besides..." He held the GGD aloft with a smirk on his face as he looked the general square in the eyes.

"I know the perfect place to use it... In the southeast." Both headmasters looked at each other in slight confusion, as if having a quick and silent conversation, before turning back to the young man. "You do know that there is nothing to the southeast, right?" Ozpin asked cautiously. Dichro merely smirked even wider before saying, "Yes, I know exactly what's there... Mountain Glenn, or Mt. Glenn as I call it; the sight of one of humanities' biggest blunders in history. But at the moment, it is also home to a small, but vital band of White Fang members along with the stolen dust cargo thus far." This got their attention as the Ant Faunus continued to explain, "Right now, they're still in the process of loading everything up, but once they do they plan to take the train and ram it into the blockade that separates Mt. Glenn from the rest of Vale; with several holes in the ceilings of the tunnels to let the Grimm into the city. And before I forget..." With that, he glared at the general harshly before saying, "You need to keep your toys under closer watch... By now, the ol' candlestick, a.k.a. Roman Torchwick, has at least a dozen of your Atlesean Paladins in his drawers and is making his way off with them to said base." This shocked James immensely, though Ozpin figured something along these lines were coming.

"Are you absolutely certain that there is a base of operations in Mountain Glenn?" the general asked in as serious a tone as he could muster. Dichro only nodded as he replied, "Without a shadow of a doubt; it's in the old subway stations under the city. But a more immediate threat is the fact that a Schnee Dust Company freighter is going to come in sometime in the immediate future and it WILL be attacked by none other than the candlestick himself."

This worried the two headmasters considerably as they glanced at each other before James nodded at Ozpin and turned back to the Ant Faunus to ask, "What do you need me to do?" This was, by far and few, the LAST thing Dichro expected either of them to say; let alone the general of Atlas, himself. 'What kinda game is he playin' at?' the dichromatic young man thought before recovering from his stupor and questioning James on why he was doing this. "It's like you said earlier; it doesn't matter what I or the rest of us do... But what YOU do DOES matter. No matter what you do, there's a reason behind it; a method to the madness." The general crossed his arms as he nodded and stated, "There's more; you've shared extremely sensitive information - info that no one outside the White Fang would know about and are willing to co-operate with us on it. For that alone, I'm more than willing to return the favor, but I know that you'll have something to ask for in return."

"We'll deal with it later," Dichro interjected, "but for now, all I need is info on WHEN that freighter will arrive. Once I have that..." He pulled at his jacket and placed the GGD back into the pocket on the inside before turning back to James.

"... You'll have your demonstration."

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

And there you have it, folks; the next chapter in the Paradox of Remnant series! What is that Kuroto wannabe planning?! And what will Dichro have in store for the Schnee Freighter raid?! We'll find out soon enough, but until then...

See ya next game!


	21. First Case!

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls... Um... Okay, how do I say this...

I screwed up. My comp just all of a sudden shut down while I was working on this chapter and the file became corrupted.

Therefore, I have to start all over again on it. The only saving grace was I didn't really have anything other than the original AN done...

Sadly, this means no questions will be answered at this time, and I apologize for such a long delay in this chapter... So for now, here's the disclaimer.

Also slowing me down is the fact that it had malware on it so I had to perform a destructive recovery; what this means is I had to erase EACH and EVERY file and clean EACH and EVERY drive out entirely to clear it because no malware protection would work on it.

Disclaimer: I only own any mentioned OCs and the Kuroto wannabe - Kamen Rider and RWBY are intellectual properties of their respective owners. Please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Dichro's Dorm-(

)-Third Person Pov-(

* * *

If there was one thing Ruby knew for absolute certain it was the fact that she wasn't as naive and ditzy as she makes herself out to be, though she does enjoy letting her more childish side out more often than necessary; she knew that there was something going on with her new friend, if she could call him that. It wasn't for a lack of trying, either, but she could tell he was hiding some very important things from her and her team; and that's not including her friends from Team JNPR and Velvet. As silly as it sounded, Ruby was sure that he somehow felt the weight of the world was on his shoulders alone - possibly even more than that if she wanted to guess. As she found herself pacing across his dorm in front of the door, Ruby made a promise to herself - that she would find out what's going on even if she had to interrogate Dichro by herself. And her first method that came to mind was to... Search his belongings...

'Well strike that,' the crimson reaper thought to herself, 'He doesn't even own a pair of pajamas! Makes me feel bad we kinda failed him in that shopping trip...' She heard a knock on the door and turned to open it; this revealed both female members of Team CFVY, Coco and Velvet, holding a bunch of bags in their arms with Coco saying, "I know he had a beatdown, recently, but I'm gonna make him pay me back for having to carry all of these up here to him..."

"That's still no reason to blame him for leaving these at the shop..." Velvet argued softly, setting down her bags of clothes as she did so. As Team CFVY's leader set her own bags down, she retorted, "I know, but it's still no excuse to leave perfectly good clothes on the floor like tha...?", her sentence slowed as she looked to see who was laying in the bed and who was standing in the room confused.

"Velvet, is this supposed to be Team RWBY's room?" the fashionista asked her Bunny Faunus companion, who shook her head no and stated as such. "Then what're Ruby and her sister doing here?" she questioned as she looked at the young reaper in annoyance. Ruby cringed slightly at the tone before explaining that she was watching her sister to make sure nothing happened because of what she did last night. When asked by Velvet to explain, she told them about what Yang had said about feeling Dichro's turmoil and how she thought something bad had happened.

"You bet something bad happened; one of the-" Coco started to explain, but Velvet interrupted her as she asked, "Hang on... Ruby, you said Yang felt Dichro's turmoil?" At the young girl's nod, the Bunny Faunus asked her to explain and at the end of it, the poor girl looked confused and shocked beyond belief. Coco took her teammate's silence as a sign to continue her story, "Anyway... One of the nearby dust shops was attacked by the White Fang -"

Ruby's eyebrows shot up as she gaped in surprise and cried out, "WHAT!?" without realizing her sister was asleep still. A groan could be heard from the sleeping brawler as she stirred. "Wha... Wuz go'n on?" Yang asked, her speech slurring slightly from sleep. In her panic, the younger half-sibling quickly turned to her waking sister and apologized, "Oh... Sorry, Yang... But looks like you were KINDA right?" Wiping her eyes, the blonde brawler's body still refused to respond, but her mind was running at full capacity as she asked, "Whadaya mean?"

As Yang woke up, her sister explained what happened to her as best as she could. When she was done, a very confused blonde scratched her head with a worried expression as she couldn't help but realize it wasn't the end of the story. It was Coco's turn to tell her side of the story; about how the White Fang robbed a random dust shop out in the open and how one of the ringleaders was a human. When she got to the part where Dichro had ran off and some red and blue armored figure nearly mutilated the girl, both Ruby and Yang grew exceptionally worried as they looked at each other in concern - this wasn't like him in their eyes. Yang knew something was up but she held her tongue as she turned back to Coco and said, "Yikes... He sounds like the kind of guy who takes his job too seriously..."

"And that's not the worst of it," Coco added, "When I asked where Dichro went, he practically called him a coward, but when I found Dichro... He was beat up pretty bad. His side of the story, though, didn't make sense because that guy TOLD him to leave."

'Well, that's one mystery solved,' both half-sisters thought at the same time. Ruby nodded before thanking Coco and Velvet for doing what they did to help Dichro thus far and waited until a few minutes after they left the room and closed the door before she turned to her elder half-sibling and asked her what she thought of Dichro's actions. "It's an anti-hero thing he's pulling off, Rubes," Yang explained from her own point of view, "He's trying to make himself look like someone who doesn't give a crap to hide the fact that he still cares about everyone; even the villain." At her sister's confused glance, Yang's expression softened considerably as she continued, "You didn't feel his remorse, Ruby... You didn't feel his regret at doin' what he did, but I can tell he only did it because she was a threat and he had no choice left. I don't know how I know that, but I'm chalkin' it up as the bond's fault."

As she nodded, the little reaper suggested that they head back to their dorm before Dichro came back. As they entered the elevator, Ruby turned to her sister and asked, "What do you think of Dichro, sis?" At this, Yang seemingly cringed a little before she looked away from her sister and replied, "It's complicated..."

"Yang Xiao Long, are you having a crush on him?" the little reaper taunted but was shut down when her sister said, "That's not the reason why... I mean we know nothin' about him and yet..." She hesitated for a moment before she spoke again, seemingly choosing her words so as not to give away what she knew, "He seems to know things we don't - even about completely random strangers." At Ruby's nod, the blond brawler continued, "And then there's this Kamen Rider business... I mean we're not even sure if he's meant to protect anyone or not. We're just goin' by what he says about it... I just..." She sighed heavily before resuming her speech, "I can't help but think that it's not that he doesn't trust us... But the fact that he can't trust what he knows to anyone else..." Ruby sighed as she pulled out her scroll and opened it before saying off-handedly, "You know something... Don't you..."

At this, Yang flinched in shock as she looked at her younger half-sister who spoke again, "You really are just like dad in a lot of ways." She typed something up on her scroll which brought up a screen with a stubbier version of Beacon tower in the background surrounded by several skyscrapers with a rather adorable looking chibi-deformed girl made of electricity with a computer chip-shaped head flying above the words " _SKYLINERS - Tap to Begin_ " as she continued to speak, "When something comes up, and you think I can't handle it, you both dance around the subject... But I know now that there's a reason why..." Ruby turned to her older half-sibling with a small smile and said, "So I won't try to dig any deeper if it'll make you feel any better..."

The blond brawler shook her head at the young girl's remark in relief before saying, "I'm not so sure 'I' can handle knowing what I do..." As Ruby turned back to her scroll and tapped it, Yang looked at it in mild shock before asking, "You still play that, Rubes? That's a baby's game." Her sister's reply was a slight huff as she continued to play.

"So what?" she retorted in defiance, "It helps me to better understand the in's and out's of engineering... For - for future weapons."

"Sure it does, Rubes - you tell yourself that all you want... It just goes to show your obsession with weapons knows no bounds," Yang teased playfully. Before she could respond, Ruby noticed the doors of the elevator opened up to reveal Ren and Nora walking past it with Nora holding some weird neon green box with a bright pink latch and handle on it like she was holding a lottery prize. "What the heck is that?" the reaper asked aloud without thinking, alerting the pink loving hammer wielder of her presence.

"Oh hi, Ruby! Hi, Yang!" Nora greeted excitedly as she turned to the duo. Holding it up to the two, the white letters " _GD_ " were visible at the bottom of the latch as she said, "Look what I found while me and Ren were in Vale!"

Ren took the time to speak up for the confused sisters to try and clear some things up, "She found it just sitting in a garbage can... It was far too clean to have been in there long, and neither of us have any idea what it is, so I suggested we take it to one of the professors and see if they could help us identify it." Both the girls nodded, but Ruby noticed that the letters looked similar to the ones that were on the GGD and asked if she could hold it to see for herself. With an affirmative nod, Nora handed it over to the younger girl who still had her Scroll in her right hand.

That's when things took a dark turn for the poor girl. An orange spark, unnoticed by those around it, shot from the device into the Scroll and caused it to suddenly become fuzzy and static-filled. What didn't go unnoticed, however, was the sudden bolt of orange electricity that jolted around Ruby's right arm and the intense pain that she felt spread through her body as she screamed in agony; dropping both her now useless scroll and the device at the same time as she held herself around her torso. Collapsing to her knees, the reaper held herself tightly as she hunched over while her friends and sister bolted to her sides crying out her name in shock and fear.

"It hurts!" Ruby cried out in pain, "It hurts so much!" At this, Yang suddenly remembered Dichro mentioning what happens to someone infected with the Bugster Virus - that their bodies will be wracked with an intense pain as the Bugster forms. "Hang on, Ruby, I'm calling any professor I can think of. Nora, get her to the Infirmary as fast as you can," Ren said quickly as he pulled out his scroll in an attempt to contact a professor to inform them of what happened when Yang stopped him by saying, "This isn't something a professor can help with, Ren - we need to find Dichro!"

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Headmaster's Office-(

* * *

As Ozpin and James stood at their respective positions, Dichro paced across the room in deep thought. "Dichro, I know what I'm asking is against what you've been taught as a huntsman and as a Kamen Rider..." the general began but was interrupted by the Ant Faunus who refused to turn to him as he continued to pace back and forth. "But it's in-line with a Dark Rider's tendencies, which is what Para-DX is," Dichro said solemnly, though he doubted himself internally as he had not seen an episode past the debut of Chronus since his untimely arrival on Remnant. Ozpin nodded at this, but then said, "As well, I am giving you permission to do this as one of my students..."

"And what about the legal repercussions?" the young man interjected as he stopped and turned to Ozpin. The headmaster of Atlas, however, decided to field this question as he said, "I'll have the authorities notified of what we plan to do; basically I'm labeling this as an experiment - a test if you will..."

"For who? Me?" Dichro asked in annoyance, "Or Penny?"

James' eyebrows suddenly shot up in shock as he looked towards his fellow headmaster, who shrugged as he said, "See what I mean? He knows things." The general turned to what was now appearing to him as his younger peer before nodding as he said, "I can understand your concern on the matter... But -"

"But keeping her closed off is not doing her or anyone else any good," Dichro scolded as he crossed his arms, "Android or not, Penny is her own person and needs to learn to act like one if she is to be treated as such. That's part of the reason she got killed in the first place."

'Part of?' the Atlesean Headmaster repeated in his head, 'What does he mean, I wonder...' As he pondered on this, Ozpin was thinking similar thoughts before voicing his opinion, "And what was the other part?"

"Her rigged opponent, Pyrrha Nikos, was fooled into using her Semblance at full power which ended u-" Dichro paused as his eyes went wide in panic before saying two simple words...

"Oh no..."

Both headmasters turned to the dichromatic young man in confusion before Ozpin asked what as wrong, to which Dichro gave his reply, "Oh no, this isn't good - Yang's panicking; Yang NEVER panics unless Ruby's involved!" It was at this point, a beeping sound was heard ringing throughout the room. Dichro noticed it was coming from him so he sought out his Scroll to find someone was calling him. As he opened it up, he answered with a quick, "Yallo, this is Spec-"

"Dichro, it's Yang - something's happening!" Yang interjected quickly as an image of her appeared with a voice spectrum next to it that fluctuated with Ren's voice trying to talk to someone as she continued, "I don't know what's going on entirely, but I have a hunch; a really, REALLY bad hunch that it involves you-know-what!" That sparked alarm bells for Dichro as he mulled over what she could mean before the answer hit him harder than one of the pink-loving hammer wielder's punches. Before he could say anything, however, Yang continued her testimony, "Ruby's currently being carried to the infirmary by Nora and Ren's trying to call everyone else to meet us there -"

"NO!" Dichro cried out, "Yang, whatever you do; do NOT let Nora get to the infirmary - Ruby HAS to be quarantined IMMEDIATELY! Get Ren to convince the others to head to your dorm instead if they aren't already there and get Nora's psycho ass BACK there by the time I arrive! I don't know what it is I can do to help, but I know there IS something I CAN do!"

"Alright - I'm trusting you," were the last words Yang uttered as she cancelled the call. With that, the young man closed the scroll and hurried shoved it into his jacket as he said, "Sorry, but it looks like we got our first confirmed case of the Bugster Virus." At this, Ozpin's eyes widened slightly in worry while James' were more than open in shock. Before either of them could get anything out of him, Dichro made a dash for the elevator and immediately pressed the ground floor button. Being the quicker to recover of the two, the Beacon Headmaster quickly asked who it was that got infected, to which he got a single word as his reply before the elevator doors closed.

"Ruby!"

* * *

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

'Damnit, damnit, damnit damnit damnit! DAMNIT!' I cussed internally as I ran hard and fast towards the dorm rooms, 'How the hell did Ruby get infected? It makes no sense - I should have been the first logical person to infect her due to having the virus in me! Not only that, but how am I going to remove the Bugster from her body if I don't even have a Level One For-' My thoughts were interrupted as I felt a strong, shocking pain jolt through my body, slowing me down some before I tried to calm myself down. 'No... I can't let it stress me out; not yet...' I thought to myself as I ran to the elevator that I thought was closest to Team RWBY's dorm, 'I need to see how far the infection's progressed and find out if any game's been used before jumping to conclusions. Everything else is improvisation.' As I entered the floor number, I thought back to the series Ex-Aid and tried to think of at least one Bugster that formed on its own without a surgery or a Kamen Rider to beat it out of someone... There was only one that came to mind, and I was praying that whatever this Bugster was would end up just like him...

"I could really use a Bagamon right about now..." I whispered to myself as the elevator doors opened. I looked around for team RWBY's dorm when I hear a commotion going on - specifically Ruby crying out in pain every so often followed by Nora and a few others arguing, and the sounds were getting closer. I turned to see what was going on and, to my surprise; Weiss, Blake and Pyrrha were standing in front of Ren, Yang and Nora who was still holding Ruby.

"We can't just trust his word over a medical official - it's just plain stupid and you know it!" the heiress remarked as she held her arms out to try and block their way.

"I hate to say it, but I have to agree with Weiss on this one," Blake said in a condescending tone with her arms crossed, "As much as he's been open for us, there's also a lot we don't know; for all we know, this could be a ploy to try and keep Ruby from seeing someone qualified to help her."

Yang's eyes turned red at this as she yelled out, "There IS no one qualified - that's the problem! The closest person who can handle this is Dichro and he's clearly seen it happen before!"

Pyrrha's stern gaze almost looked forced as she stood there and simply said, "I understand how you feel, Yang - Ruby's your sister and you'd do anything for her... But this isn't one of those times..."

"I'm afraid it is..." I said as I walked up to the group, "Ruby's been infected with a very special and deadly virus... One that attacks the body in its entirety." As I watched everyone except Ruby turn to me, I continued to lay out just what was at stake, "Normally, the removal of the virus is done via a very dangerous surgery or by a Kamen Rider with a Level 1 form... While I have no means of removing the virus, there is a way to at least slow it down. Bring her into Team JNPR's room and lay her down on one of the beds..."

Almost in a trance, Nora obliged as she nodded and walked into her team's dorm and laid Ruby down gently on her bed, pulling the covers away just enough to cover her as the poor girl's body was sweating and shivering in what I assumed was pain and cold... I walked up to her and held her shoulder before I softly spoke to her, "Ruby... I need you to trust me and do everything I say... Okay?"

"It... hurts... So bad..." she grunted out. I couldn't help but bleed out for the girl, but I steeled myself and smiled lightly as I said, "I know it does... But you have to do what I say and trust me... Okay?" At her nod, I simply nodded back and said, "Okay... the thing that's making this so bad is that you need to find a way to calm your mind... Panicking will only make it worse."

"How am I... Grrrngh!" she tried to ask something there, but her pain seemed to increase; stopping her from finishing her sentence. "I understand you think this is strange," I started to explain, "But please, hear me out... The thing that's making this so bad is stress. If you clear your mind, you will lessen the pain."

"Like that'll actually work..." I could hear Weiss say in a snarky tone, followed by Blake saying, "It's true for some diseases... Stressing will only make it worse." I nodded and smiled more before speaking once more to Ruby, "I want you to think of something you enjoy doing - something that helps you to relax, and nothing else."

"Well... I always find -" she tried to say, but I stopped her by telling her that she shouldn't say what it was; only think of it.

"Do you have it?" I asked her. At her nod, I smiled again and said, "Good... Now imagine yourself doing whatever it is that relaxes you - clear your mind of all sounds and images except that." She squinted her eyes shut and groaned softly, apparently trying too hard if I had to guess... But sure enough, her face started to relax as her breathing slowed. "There we go..." I complimented her, "Keep it up until you can fall asleep, okay?"

"Okay," was all she gave before she fell silent save for her breathing.

I could feel relief washing over me as I sighed; not just mine, but Yang's as well. I stood up and motioned for everyone to leave the room for a moment and closed the door once I knew everyone was outside before I turned to the others and said solemnly, "Now we wait..."

"Wait for what? A doctor?" the heiress asked in disbelief, "We could have brought her to the infirmary for on-" I had to hold my hand out to stop her as I said, "That's not what we're waiting on..."

"Then what?" Pyrrha asked in concern. I turned to her and gave her an answer I never wanted to utter...

"For the Bugster Union to form..."

This confused everyone present, even Yang, as they started asking or in some cases demanding answers, to which I started to explain what the Bugster Virus was, after asking everyone to keep this a secret as word of this would cause wide-spread panic if it got out, and what the virus was capable of doing. They asked questions like "How is that possible," or "Why hasn't anyone done anything about it?" to which I gave the answers as best as I could. 'Crapbaskets, this must be what Trunks felt like when he went to save Goku from that heart virus...' was what I was thinking as I continued to explain, "... and eventually, when the patient is under enough stress, the viruses in the body will multiply rapidly to the point where it can be visible to the naked eye before consuming the body and forming what is known as a Bugster Union. This is a monstrous form the patient takes while under the control of the virus." Pyrrha had asked if anything could be done to the virus but I answered, "The only thing that can be done is to use my Kamen Rider form but even then it's dangerous because I'm not a Level 1; due to this, I might accidentally kill Ruby trying to remove the Bugster."

When Ren asked how this could be avoided, I had to be honest with him.

"I'm sorry," I apologized, "But unless the Bugster involved is above Level 3, then the Union will form..."

"So that's it, then..." I heard a voice from off to the side and looked to see Ozpin and General Ironwood with that Labrador Faunus doctor from before walking up to us as Ozpin said, "We wait to see if this Bugster can form without a Union."

"How can you be so trusting of him, professor!" both Blake AND Weiss exclaimed in shock as they heard this. "Quite simple, really..." The Beacon headmaster said before he turned to the doctor and said, "Please go check on Ruby while we talk..." The doctor nodded nervously and went into the room, closing the door behind him as the Dumbledore of Remnant spoke once more, "The reason why is because it is the truth, as hard as it is to believe; otherwise, his GGD would not exist." To this, I watched as everyone turned to me in shock which made me feel awkward... I turned back to Ozpin and nodded before I spoke up to the others, "The way the virus is spread is by video games that are corrupted... What we're dealing with is more dangerous and deadly than any Grimm that has ever existed, so I need to know... How tha hell did she get infected in the first place?!"

At this, everyone turned to one another and shrugged as they tried to figure out what happened. "Ah crapbaskets," I said in annoyance as I slapped my face, "There's gotta be SOMETHING..." A thought hit me then and there that I really wanted to punch myself for not thinking it sooner which made me ask, "Then let's try this question... What happened before Ruby suddenly started experiencing her symptoms?"

Ren and Nora looked at each other before the male of the duo explained, "If you must know, then Nora was showing Ruby and Yang something she had found in a trashcan while we were in Vale... A strange looking and almost brand-new device..."

"Device?" I repeated in confusion, "What did it look like?"

"OOH! It was about this big!" the hyper girl held her hands out at least 8 or 9 inches apart before continuing, "And it was neon green with a bright pink latch on it and -" That was all I needed to hear before I interrupted her rudely; how the hell did this girl happen upon a damned Gamer Driver?!

"Where is it?" I just about demanded her, which might have come out more forceful than I thought as she and even Weiss flinched as she pointed back to a different direction than the one I came from. As I ran there, I saw a scroll and, sure enough, the Gamer Driver just laying on the floor. I made a mad dash for it, but grabbed the scroll first to look at it. 'If these two made contact...' I started hypothesizing to myself, 'Could that have been enough to pass the virus from the driver to the game? Wait, is there even a virus in the driver itself? I mean it WOULD stand to reason to explain why Bugsters without Human DNA can't use it...' I saw a bunch of static and fuzz on the scroll, but I could barely make out the words " _SKYLINERS_ " on it. I never heard of it before so I turned to whomever had followed me which happened to be Blake, Yang, Ironwood, and Jaune, and asked, "Any idea what Skyliners is about?"

"Why is that important? Ruby is in there dying for all we know!" Jaune said in a foot in mouth manner that just almost made me snicker...

Almost...

"It's the reason Ruby is in there in the first place," I started to scold him, "If my guess is right, then whatever trace amounts of the virus that was in this..." I pointed to the Driver to emphasize my point before pointing to the scroll in my hand, "Got into here and infected Ruby that way, which means..." I paused as I gripped the scroll hard and shattered it in my hand as I held it up, "We now have a shot at knowing what Bugster may do THIS to Ruby! And before you say anything, the scroll HAD to be destroyed in order to prevent any of you from being infected."

"Well... I'm not so sure there's going to be any REAL dangers..." Blake started, "Last I heard, that game was meant for young children to show them how to build defenses as well as teach them some skills they can use if they pursue a Hunter career... The only enemy is time and occasional groups of Grimm that the defenses the game gives you can handle..."

"What about main characters?" I asked hurriedly, "Surely there's at least one main antagonist?"

"No, there isn't," Yang replied quickly but then said, "But there are two main characters; the heroes I guess you can call them... Ruby kept talking about it even back in Signal. The heroes are the player and a computer AI called Quarts Sapphron." As I processed this, I started getting really bad vibes... Not for Ruby, mind you, but for whatever Bugster was about to come out of her... 'This is now sounding TOO much like Bagamon...' I thought to myself, 'I need to know more about this Quartz...' Yang must have sensed my concern so she began to explain, "Quartz is like this AI that the kingdoms all work together to build and give to the player to help them build a city on a new and uncharted land outside of the Kingdoms and even outside of Patch, Vytal and the Menagerie."

"The Menagerie?" I repeated before I shook my head, "Nevermind, is she bad or good?"

"Sometimes, she has hiccups, but she's a great help for newcomers," the blond brawler said. I couldn't help but groan sadly as I picked up the Gamer Driver before saying, "Then let's hope she's at least Level 4... Otherwise -" I was interrupted by a sudden screaming coming from Team JNPR's dorm. I and everyone else present made a mad dash for the room to see Ruby enveloped in an orange-ish yellow glow as the doctor was backed away into a wall out of shock. Upon seeing him, I think Yang was assuming the worst as she marched right up to him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before she almost yelled out, "WHAT DID YOU DO!?"

"Nothing, I swear!" he said still in shock at what was happening with Ruby. Before anyone could say anything else, we all heard a strange almost pixie dust noise coming from the scarlet girl's direction. As we looked, the glow enveloping her suddenly floated up and left her behind before floating to the middle of the room. The glowing mass started to glow brighter and brighter as it took on a somewhat more humanoid shape before fading.

What was left in it's place was, in traditional monster fashion, a full-fledged Bugster!

She, I'm assuming it's a she, had an entire right arm made from what looked like a crane, her left leg looked like the empire state building turned upside down, her chest looked like the clocktower portion of Beacon tower with wires and cables running down into a waist-like shape. Her right leg and left arm were both shaped like baby blue electricity with white lines running along them. Her head was the weirdest part of her... It looked like a cross between a flat-screen TV and a microchip... On the screen was a clearly feminine face that was the same color blue as her arm and leg with her eyes closed. As she opened them, I saw that they were almost a bright golden color. Ruby's screams seem to die down as well since I couldn't hear her anymore, but when my attention turned back to the Bugster, her face was that of clear fear and concern as she held her hands close to her chest before asking three simple words that I never thought any Bugster would utter.

"Where... Am I?"

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

Whew! FINALLY! After a MONTH of working on this...

By the way, before ANY of you ask, someone already mentioned to me that there was a Board Game called Skyliners, but that wasn't until AFTER I was almost 3/4 of the way done with the chapter... It was PURE COINCIDENCE that I named a BUILDING GAME that! XD

Anyway, hope you enjoy the world's first Bugster's appearance! Until next time...

See ya next game!


	22. First Contact!

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! Now that all that bad stuff is out of the way, I just want to tell all those that wished for those of us that were in the way of Hurricane Nate, which petered out before it made landfall, thank you for the well wishes and to let you all know that updates will be slow until I can get into a better predicament...

Sadly, that won't happen until I eventually get a new laptop...

But for now, let's get on with the questions; starting with the missed chapter!

immortal gamer, I cannot make any promises about what will happen when Dichro and Raven meets... But chances are, one of them's not walking out of that conflict alive.

Raidentensho, I am afraid that I have to count the Kamen Rider Build Gashat as a Primary Rider - meaning it will NOT be appearing AT ALL nor will it be mentioned... I am sorry if I misled you otherwise...

And now to the last chapter's questions!

mr . unknow, that is correct; she is almost entirely new. You'll see why I say 'almost' soon enough.

Kamen Rider Chrome, I will say she has a LITTLE bit of Bagamon in her. The rest, however, I will not spoil. You'll have to read on to find out yourself.

Demons Anarchy of Pride, like with mr . unknow and Kamen Rider Chrome, I cannot spoil anything at this time.

Now that that's out of the way, let's start with the disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I only own the mentioned OCs and the Kuroto wannabe. Kamen Rider and RWBY are intellectual properties of their respective owners. Please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Co _R_ **R** _ **U**_ pT **3** _d_ PoV-(

* * *

Data Log Entry 4

Subject: Another World

Entry Log: My earlier hypothesis was proven incorrect as I have discovered the identity of the Kamen Rider Para-DX that has inhabited this world; it is a young man by the name of Dichro Spectrum. As I searched through the web for any information on him, nothing came up; so I can only assume that his name is an alias. What's more, I managed to view a conversation that revealed incredibly savory enlightenment; he's from an entirely different reality than myself and this world.

Perhaps this can be used to my advantage... But to do that, I need the boy alive for as long as possible; I need to learn and uncover everything about him...

I need his mind...

Perhaps simply having something he had from his original world will do to aid in discovering it?

* * *

Data Log Entry 5

Subject: Success or Failure?

Entry Log: Just as I had come to the conclusion that my experiment was a success, one of the prototypes 'perishes' on me! And right as I attempt to dispose of the body, that blasted woman comes in and distracts me from my task with meaningless blather about me aiding her in more ways than I am now. As I was quarreling with her, I hear a noise and discover the creature was, in fact, more than alive - it was trying to escape!

Whatever I made, I now know that my genius was poured into it - making it capable of eluding not only myself and the woman, but all of her supposed 'children' and managed to dig itself underground at implausible speeds!

Wherever it is now... I hope it does what it was programmed to do...

But for now, I must shift my focus on to the other three prototypes! Their gestation is nearing completion and nothing else must interfere with it.

* * *

Data Log Entry 6

Subject: Zero Day

Entry Log: My earlier attempt at surveillance via the Gamer Driver has yielded an unwarranted, but not totally unwelcome, side-effect. I can already feel the presence of a new Bugster being born into this world, but it is vastly different than any other I have encountered or created in my past life. As I surmised, there are video games in this world which allows the virus to not only survive, but thrive in their new land. My only regret is that the video games of this world are... VASTLY inferior to my own genius creations...

My only concern is, from what little data I could collect from both the driver and the new Bugster, is that they are also inferior to the games that Dichro is familiar with...

The need to reach his universe is growing rapidly; who knows what beautiful and dangerous wonders I could find there?

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Beacon Academy, JNPR's Dorm-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Shock and awe was eerily prevalent throughout the room. Everyone present, even the still weak Ruby, was staring at the newcomer with so many thoughts running through their heads, but the most popular ones were 'What does she mean where is she?' and 'How is this possible?'. The newborn Bugster's thoughts, however, were a bit different.

'What am I doing here? Why am I here? What's going on?' she asked herself these questions and more as she looked around in fear and concern, but one question popped into her head more than any other.

'Where's Ruby?'

As she looked around, she saw the young reaper lying in bed sweating and panting as she stares in shock at the newcomer. She couldn't believe that something as adorable as a puppy like the AI of her favorite game was standing there looking like a massive and monstrous mess that's scared of the world around her. Mustering her strength, Ruby slowly but clearly spoke the words, "Hi... there..." The Bugster simply continued to look at her for a few minutes as everyone watched and waited for her reaction. The reaction they got, however, was not what they were expecting, except maybe Dichro since he saw something similar.

"OH MY GOSH, YOU POOR THING!" she exclaimed, her voice sounding similar to auto-tuned vocals, prompting all except the headmasters, the Atlas headmaster stumbling and Ozpin cringed slightly with a raised eyebrow, and Dichro, who slapped his forehead, to fall face-first onto the floor. The Bugster almost skipped to the crimsonette's bedside and knelt down next to her as she said, "You look so ill, what's wrong?"

"Maybe we shouldn't judge her just by hearsay?" Pyrrha suggested as she recovered. Dichro still stared at the Bugster in annoyance as he said, "I never said there weren't exceptions... And it's clear she's one of them." The Ant Faunus snapped his fingers at the Bugster in an attempt to try and get her attention while yelling out, "OI! You with the crane arm!" This spooked the already skittish thing into jumping away from Ruby and into on of the drawers, knocking the whole thing over in the process.

"Ooooh, I'm so sorry..." she apologized quickly as she looked at the damage she had wrought, but the dichromatic young man shook his head before asking her, "What's your name?" At this, the Bugster soon turned rigid before standing upright and saluting with her left arm as she said, "Personal Digital Assistant, Quartz Sapphron, reporting for duty!"

'This is gonna be one of those days, isn't it...' the dichromatic young man thought to himself as he tried to stifle his laughter before he shook his head with his fingers rubbing his chin as he said, "Mhmm... Yeah... Except you're kinda not." The Bugster jumped slightly in surprise as she took the sentence in and asked what he meant by that. He tried to give his reply, but Ozpin beat him to it as he quickly interjected and stated, "You are a creature that was born from a viral infection that has begun to wreak havoc on Ms. Rose's body... Whether or not she can be cured is unknown..."

"Of course she can!" Dichro nearly shouted out, "There are two ways to cure her; the first is to um... Well... Kinda destroy the Bugster..." As everyone else save for the headmasters, and Quartz who was listening, started to state their disapproval of this method, Dichro once more took the moment to impose what he wanted to say, "Now hold up! There IS another way, but that one's a bit trickier." As they calmed down, everyone looked to each other as if asking the same question; a question that the young man took full responsibility for answering.

"We have to find a way to clear her game."

"But you destroyed Ruby's scroll!" Jaune stated, "How are we supposed to clear her game?"

"The scroll was never important," was all Dichro gave in retort before he walked up to Quartz and patted her arm, "What's important is we have her still around... Otherwise... There's no telling how things will go. What's more is that clearing a game without killing a certain Bugster requires THAT Bugster's Gashat..." At seeing everyone's confused expressions, Dichro explained that a gashat was what the GGD is, except smaller and was used in the device they found earlier which he told them was a Gamer Driver.

"So that's the Gamer Driver, huh?" James finally voiced out as he took the device from Dichro, who still had it in his hand as he ran to the room, and investigated it, "I never thought something so tacky could be so powerful and dangerous."

Nora's color seemed to literally drain as her body started to gray out. Her thoughts were muddled with self-blame; her face belied this as Ren put a hand on her shoulder and spoke a soft "You couldn't have known, Nora," to her as he looked down sadly at his long-time friend. "He's right; nobody but me could have known, and even then I'm STILL not sure I know how," was all Dichro said as the color returned to the carrot-top girl's body along with a smile and a nod.

"I think our best course of action at the moment," Ozpin began as he sighed, "Is to simply try and keep an eye on Quartz and Ruby for the time being..."

"With all due respect, Ozpin..." James began, "I have a request to make of Mr. Spectrum. I wish to -"

"Take the Gamer Driver back to Atlas to have it studied, right?" Dichro immediately finished, shocking a nod out of the general before he continued, "I'm fine with that because we may need more than one of those, but you keep that damnable thing under lock and key ten times over until the first copy has been made, got it? Otherwise, there's no telling what kind of outbreak is going to happen!" At this, the Atlas headmaster agreed willingly to these terms as he had already planned on ensuring only the best of the best were allowed to even look at pictures of the device. As he started to leave, he looked back and noticed Quartz turn back to the bedridden young girl before he turned to Ozpin as he asked, "Do you have any plans as to what to do about her?"

"I haven't the slightest, James..." was the reply he got from his fellow headmaster whom started to leave the room. At this, the iron general shook his head in disbelief as he muttered, "I'll be damned... The impossible has actually happened," before finally leaving the room with the device in hand.

As this was going on, Quartz was once more kneeling next to Ruby and was trying to bring up small conversation. "Say, little one... What's your name?" she asked the tired and ill girl who smiled softly and replied that her name was Ruby. "Ruby..." Quartz repeated, "I knew a guy named Ruby, once; he kept putting defense turrets slap in the middle of the civilian districts and bringing his knights out into the wilds where they don't work at all -"

"Quartz," Ruby giggled weakly, interrupting her, "That was me."

The poor Bugster jumped in surprised and cried out, "What?! I thought Ruby was a GUY'S name!" This brought the young reaper into a fit of laughter that quickly converted into a fit of hacking and coughing that caught her half-sister's attention. "Easy there, sis," Yang spoke softly, "You still need rest... And just to make it easier, I'll lay off the puns until you can kick this in the bucket."

Coughing lightly, Ruby gave a weak, yet coy, smile as she said, "That just makes me want to stay sick..." The blonde brawler couldn't help but chuckle as she patted her sister's shoulder as she told her, "Whatever makes you sleep, Rubes... Just try to rest up, okay?" At the crimsonette's affirmative nod, Yang smiled and turned to Quartz and motioned for her to follow as she left the room. As they did, the members of Team JNPR along with Dichro and the remaining members of Team RWBY followed them, though Quartz DID have difficulty squeezing through the frame as she left JNPR's dorm and entered RWBY's. Upon doing so, however, Yang was the first to speak up, "Well I think now's as good a time as any to 'spark' a conversation."

At this, everyone but Dichro and Quartz groaned with the former of the two chuckling and the latter being confused. "You won't get it at first," the Ant Faunus explained, "Puns are more of an acquired taste." At this, Yang scoffed before saying, "Anyway, I think we should try to get ourselves introduced to our new friend here," as she sat on Blake's bunk, to which said girl rolled her eyes at and leaned against the wall next to their beds while Weiss sat down on her bunk; a look of unadulterated awe and curiosity at their new guest finally making itself known. "I think I'll go first..." Pyrrha suggested as she held her hand up, "My name is Pyrrha Nikos, and I hope to be your friend, Quartz."

"The name's Nora! If you like destroying things, then we are gonna be the bestest of friends! If not, then we can still be best friends, at least..."

"Ignore her antics until you can get used to them..." Ren said with a small smirk as he laid a hand on a pouting Nora's shoulder, "My name is Lie Ren, but please - call me Ren."

The introductions continued as such, with a slightly distracted intro from the still curious heiress, until they eventually came up to Dichro. The young man turned to their new Bugster acquaintance and said, "Name's Dichro Spectrum, and I'm the walking invocation of Murphy's Law..."

"What the heck is Murphy's Law?" Nora asked innocently. The dichromatic young man sighed as he stated, "Long story short, anything and everything that CAN go wrong WILL go wrong." At this, the room's occupants gave a shared "Ohhh..." at the revelation.

"Anyway, I think it's time to -" he began to say but was interrupted by several stomachs growling, "... Find something to eat..." At this, he nervously chuckled as he looked around the room with similar expressions to his own. "But how are we going to hide the fact that we have a seven foot amalgamation of buildings from the school?" was the question that Blake brought to light. As the group thought on this, Dichro suggested that Team JNPR go on ahead to the mess hall without the others, though that got shot down by Pyrrha and Nora, but then suggested to send someone to get food for the rest of them and telling the mess hall staff a half truth; that one of the teams' members is ill and that they don't want to leave her alone for too long. Taking this as a challenge, Nora quickly ran out of the room without bothering to take anyone's orders, while Ren simply asked what everyone wanted and wrote it down before quickly leaving to follow suit.

"Now that they're gone..." Dichro said as he sat down onto the floor and crossed his arms, "We need to think of something to do with Quartz here... Simply dressing her up is out of the question - she's too obvious not to notice." As everyone began to think on what to do, Quartz suddenly jumped up in excitement shouting, "I GOT IT - OOF!" Clonking her head on the ceiling on the way up and rubbing it once she landed, the Bugster groaned as she said, "Why not just simply call me a pet or a robot servant?"

"Made out of buildings?" Weiss asked skeptically, to which Jaune continued, "Sorry, but even I'm not that dumb." Whimpering in defeat, Quartz hung her head low as she sat back onto the floor which caused the room to shake a little as well as Ruby's bed to suddenly collapse on top of Weiss and her bed.

"GAH! Get me out of here!" the heiress practically demanded as she struggled to lift the bed off her in vain. Quartz tried to rush to her aid, but tripped on her own foot and broke the beds in four as she crashed straight through them. "NOT YOU, YOU BIG OAF!"

"Sorry..." was all Quartz muttered as she stood back up and lifted the half of Ruby's bed that Weiss was under with one hand. As the heiress stood up and got off the now ruined bed, she took in the overall damage as anger started to fill her; rage building within as she voiced her disapproval, "HRRRRRN! Look at what you've done, you clutz! Who's going to pay for the damage to school property?!"

"Weiss, that's enough! You're scaring her!" Yang called out as she got up and marched toward the heiress whom simply huffed as she crossed her arms. Weiss turned to the blonde brawler and retorted, "She deserves to be told off because of what she did!"

"She doesn't know any better so just cut her some slack!" Yang argued back. The bickering kept going on until they heard Pyrrha suddenly cry out Quartz' name along with a strange shimmering sound. As they turned to look at where the Bugster was, all they saw was orange pixels flying out the room straight through the still-closed window.

"NOW look at what you've done!" Yang said as she motioned to the spot the Bugster was. Weiss gasped in shock and ask "What I've done?!"

"You were the one who yelled at what was effectively a newborn," Blake pointed out in a dry manner. The heiress rounded her sights on the Cat Faunus and questioned if she was now trying to gang up on her. At this, Dichro growled out a simple, "Shut up, ALL of you!" Yang could feel his rage and concern building up as he said this and chose to simply obey the command, but Weiss couldn't tell as she demanded to know why she should listen to him at all when he was the one responsible for this mess in the first place.

"For the same reason you have to listen to Ruby; I'm still the acting captain of BOTH Teams RWBY AND JNPR, and I'm pulling rank HERE and NOW!"

No one said a thing after he made that declaration. He looked between all of the members currently present before speaking up again, "Do ANY of you know what is happening right now?!"

"A poor, innocent creature is lost and alone with no one to fall back on..." Pyrrha softly said, but a quick "No" from Dichro put her into a cringe. "What just happened," Dichro explained, "Is that an innocent, newborn creature, with a threat level index beyond ANY Grimm, has just teleported to who knows where and we haven't the faintest idea on where she is! As it is, she could LITERALLY be ANYWHERE on Remnant AS WE SPEAK!" This bit of news shocked all currently present as Weiss blurted out, "Then how in the name of Oum are we supposed to find her?!"

As she said this, Dichro pulled his jacket open to reveal the GGD still tucked away inside. "With this," he began, "I believe I have the best shot at finding her. This version of Kamen Rider was designed specifically to combat Bugsters... So there has to be a tracking method on it somewhere..." 'Even if they never had it nor shown it in the show,' he added internally as he pulled the device out. "Where are you going to even start?" Blake questioned before being told that Vale was as good a place as any to start by her partner. "Then what about the rest of us?" Pyrrha asked worriedly, to which the Ant Faunus shook his head dismissively and said, "Someone needs to be here for both Ruby when she wakes up and Quartz if she happens to find her way back."

With that, he turned the dial to Perfect Puzzle and pressed the button with a quick cry of "Henshin!", the screen image of the Puzzle Gamer form appeared.

" **DUAL UP!** "

As the screen washed over him, the familiar blue, red, and gold armor formed over his body as he transformed into Para-DX's Puzzle Gamer Form.

" **GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!** "

"If any of the professors besides Ozpin ask..." the Kamen Rider stated as he holstered the GGD, "Let them know I'm out on Kamen Rider business." And with that, he walked up to and opened the window before jumping out with his arms and legs tucked into his body in a roll. His landing, however, was even less graceful than his dive as he bounced off the ground before landing on his back and yelping in pain and shock.

"I'm okay!" he called up to the others who stared in shock and horror as he got back up and ran off towards Vale.

It is said to this day that if you listen carefully you can still hear the sound of the Schnee heiress' loudest facepalm.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

* * *

The Valean Natural Park was quite the hot spot when it came to visitors. Hike trails, picnic areas, a vast man-made lake and a few scattered memorials and statues here and there make it worth a stop or two; there were even a few designated sparring areas for Hunters to train. The people bustling here kept themselves busy in as many ways as they saw fit with all kinds of outdoor activities such as jogging, kite flying, and even simply napping and reading. Overall, the park was a vastly peaceful, if abundantly active, place to relax

All this changed, however, when a swirl of orange pixels suddenly swarmed the center of one of the in-use arenas, interrupting its combatants as they jump backwards from the swarming cloud that formed into an amalgam of buildings with a TV head. At seeing this creature, both huntresses-in-training screamed in horror and each ran in the opposite direction of the creature as if their lives depended on it.

"Did I... interrupt something?" Quartz asked herself aloud as she looked at the park and the people either running or staring at her in fear. As she walked around the park, she waved at anyone who was brave enough to walk up to her before having to watch as they ran in fear of her. Each time she saw this, she sighed sadly as she continued to walk blindly through the park.

She eventually came up to a bench with a young couple kissing each other every so often and leaning onto each other the rest of the time. As she came up from behind them, she spoke softly and asked, "Excuse me, but do you know where I am currently?" One of the couple spoke up as they started to turn to her, "Oh you don't know you're in the Valea-AAAAAAGH!" As they screamed, their partner looked at what they were looking at and ran screaming as said partner followed suit. "Awww... I was just trying to be nice..." Quartz whispered as she sat down on the bench the couple had abandoned, "Kinda like how Ruby was nice... Poor girl was more ill than a rotted corpse and she was still sweet even if I couldn't talk to her much..." That's when a thought hit her; she was the cause of her 'friend's' illness and that her destruction meant that Ruby would be cured. She looked at her hands as she thought, 'No one will want to be friends with a monster like me... Even if I wanted them to... So if I can't be friends... Maybe I can at least be a good enemy? That way, they'd HAVE to try and cure Ruby!'

"Then that does it; I have to find a way to make myself into a bad guy!" she proclaimed to no one in particular, but then flinched as she corrected herself, "Er... Bad girl, I mean! Sorry!"

With her quest in mind, she got back up with renewed vigor and made her way to...

The exact opposite exit of where Vale City is...

"Oh C'MON!"

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

Well there you have it; Quartz Sapphron has entered and left the building! And in the wrong direction, I might add - HEY GET BACK HERE!

Er, I have to catch up with her before she gets into trouble before the next chapter, so until next time, See you next game!


	23. Vale's Newest 'Villain?

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls, and welcome to the OFFICIAL twentieth chapter of the Paradox of Remnant! Before we begin, I wish to give a shout out to all those that have aided this story in some way; either by reviewing it or sending well wishes during my troubling times, sending ideas for the story or just simply reading it. On the issue regarding Quartz Sapphron, I have only this to say; 'SHE IS NOT GOING TO DIE!'

She will be getting a human form, so she'll be a student of Beacon.

Also on a side note, I know his name is 'Burgermon', but that sounds too much like a fan-made digimon's name, so I'm just going to refer to him as Bagamon.

All in all, I have a lot planned for this story and will continue to update it as much as I can. Please keep your hopes high and attention active, and remember; If you build it, they will come! Also please remember that updates will continue to be slow as I'm trying to be careful not to corrupt any of my files again... I already lost part of this chapter twice... Now to move onto the Disclaimer before we finally open the chapter to the story!

Disclaimer: Dichro Spectrum, Quartz Sapphron, the Kuroto Wannabe, and any other OC mentioned here are the only things the author owns. Kamen Rider and RWBY are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release. Also, please excuse the potentially poor quality of this chapter...

Now that I've done what I came here for, please enjoy the story and I bid you farewell...

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Earlier-(

)-Just Outside Beacon Academy Main Avenue-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Under normal circumstances, the Main Avenue of Beacon Academy would be bustling with students coming and going to the carriers and Bullheads in order to leave for Vale City, but on this rather lazy day the normally busy avenue was void of students and even staff save for the occasional guard or two. One such guard, wearing a simple dark-blue polo with black pants, shoes and fingerless gloves, was just passing one of his assigned sections to keep an eye on the area around him.

"Man, this sure beats that job I had back in Atlas..." the man said as he walked on, chuckling to himself in the process, "I was freezing my butt off up there." As he continued to walk, he heard a strange noise behind one of the lamp posts. "Wazzat?" he asked no one in particular as he walked cautiously towards the post in question. As he looked behind hit, all he could see was a small hole just barely wide enough for him to slip his fist into, but deep enough to shove his entire arm if it could fit.

"Now what in the name of Remnant did this?" he asked himself as he continued to investigate the hole. Another noise interrupted his thoughts, however; a slight chirping noise. As he looked around for the source, he couldn't find anything - yet the noise sounded as if it was right next to him. Eventually, he looked down at the ground near where he thought the noise was coming from...

He never saw what threw the blob of white at him, but, as he fell backwards onto the ground from the impact force, there was no mistaking that it was sticking to his skin; leaving only his mouth and nose safe from it before he started to feel his legs and arms being bound in the same way. 'Oh no! Oh sweet Oum, no!' he cried out in his head, 'This is it; whatever Grimm snuck in here is going to make a meal out of me!' And with that, he started to struggle against his bindings in a vain attempt to escape his presumably inevitable fate.

Yet as he struggled, nothing came. He heard the chirping noise, already muffled by the webbing covering his ears getting quieter by the second until he couldn't hear it anymore. By that time, the bindings around his arms and legs were firmly glued to the ground, preventing him from sitting up.

"Uh... Hello?! Anyone there?!" he called out to whoever was around to hear, which incidentally was no one, "A lil' help here! Please?!"

* * *

)-Back at Team RWBY's Dorm-(

* * *

Recovering from the shock and stupor caused by the scene that played out in front of them, the remaining members of both Teams RWBY and JNPR stood in pregnant silence trying to comprehend what they were supposed to do. Several ideas flowing through their heads until the silence was all the heiress could take as she cried out, "Rrrrgh, that idiot! Why'd they have to do that?!"

"Are you STILL on about Quartz?" Yang asked in annoyance, "What she did was in no way her own fault -"

"I'm not talking about Quartz, I'm talking about Dichro!" Weiss interjected rather rudely, "He left without telling us what to do while he was gone except to lie to the professors!" Blake sighed in frustration with her ears flicking around before she spoke up, "He said to tell them he was on Kamen Rider business; and since we're dealing with a Bugster, this IS Kamen Rider business."

"It's the principle of the matter!" the heiress clamored, "He expects us to cover his tail for absolutely nothing in return!" As she said this, her audience simply looked at each other as if they just witnessed the dumbest event in their young lives before everyone, even Jaune, glared at her. "How can you even say that, Weiss?" Pyrrha asked, "Have you forgotten what he's done for you and Ruby in the Emerald Forest?"

"And what about at the temple?" Blake added, "If it wasn't for him, we'd have never been able to get out of there in time."

"Besides that, the guy knows less than even ME!" Jaune threw in, to which Yang internally cringed at how wrong the poor boy was, "And that's saying something!"

"Face it, Ice Queen..." Yang stated, "We owe him at least this much, if not more." Yelling through gritted teeth as she stomped the floor, the heiress finally had reached her breaking point. Turning on her heel, she called back to everyone, "Fine! Have it your way - but I'm not having anything to do with it! I'm going to get my OWN breakfast" With that, she marched straight for the door, opened it, and marched straight out as she muttered curses to herself before she let out a yelp of surprise as she trips on something that made a small chirping noise and fell flat on her face. As she propped herself upon her elbows, she heard rustling from around the corner of the hall as well as someone calling her name from behind her, but she paid no mind as she crawled towards the corner. As she turned the corner, a sudden blob of sticky white sent her reeling backwards as she pried whatever it was off. She was now furious at what was going on and decided to take another shot at seeing what caused her trip to the mess hall to be ruined. "Now who or what in the name of Oum would be stupid enough... to... do..." she started to rant but her voice dwindled as she saw what had caused her so much grief in so little time.

The creature itself, a segmented and worm-like creature that was wider at the head and narrower at the tail, was barely tall enough from the belly to even match her heels' height and was just as long as her hand. Each of the segments was white with blue tribal patterns running along each one. Under two of those segments were eight, talon-like legs barely even the size of her nails. At the tail was one segment that had formed three spike-like protrusions that were each black in color. But her attention was more focused on the face of the creature; a face that was covered in blue tribal patterns with a pair of small mandibles lightly protruding just above what seemed to be feelers, and eyes as small as pin heads that glowed a soft and innocent baby blue. It chirped in fear at her a few times as it stood up trying to make itself bigger as she continued to stare at it, but the noise it made was all that it needed to break the poor girl's wall around her heart.

"Awwww..." she coo'd as she reached her hands to pick the creature up, "I'm so sorry for hurting you." As her hands came close to it, the creature tried to back away and failed as she gently scooped it into her hands and lifted it closer to her. "How'd you even get in here?" she asked it in curiosity. The little creature chirped at her a few times almost as if trying to talk to her, but before she could reply, she heard a yelp from behind her and turned to see Yang cowering behind Jaune and Blake.

"What the hell IS that thing?!" Yang cried out in fear as she continued to cower behind the blond knight. Blake noticed this and smirked as she asked, "What's the matter, Yang? Afraid of a little bug?"

"The hell do ya mean it's little!?" the blonde brawler retorted, "And besides, it's not bugs that gets me; it's worms and anything that looks like a worm!"

"What's so wrong with worms?" Blake asked genuinely curious. She couldn't have picked a worse trigger to use on her partner as Yang glared at the Cat Faunus and growled out, "Don't even try it, Blake; I've got a dog at home and can have him here by tomorrow." At this, Blake's eyes went wide before she narrowed them as she glared at her partner and said, "You wouldn't dare..."

"Would you two pipe down?" Weiss asked in annoyance as she cuddled the little creature close to her chest, "You're scaring Schneeglocke." Noticing how close the creature was, Yang immediately yelped and jumped away from Jaune, who was just as confused as he was when he first came out to see what was going on, who asked, "Schneeglocke? What's that mean?"

"Isn't that a bit pretentious to name something after yourself?" Blake asked dryly. Weiss shook her head before saying, "No, it's not; Schneeglocke is Atlesean for 'Snowbell'. You'd know that if you took linguistics lessons."

"So, you're calling that thing Snowbell?" Jaune asked cautiously as he pointed to the heiress' new 'pet'. Her response was just to glare at him as she held Snowbell closer to her chin, giving Jaune all he needed to know about this. "Okay... Going from Ice Queen to Snow Angel to Mama Polar Bear in ten seconds flat..."

"Stow it, Arc," Weiss interjected as she marched up to him, which caused Yang to take a few steps further away, "Flattery will get you nowhere with me; got it?" Nodding his head vigorously, Jaune merely watched as she started to coddle and coo at the little creature who seemed to be enjoying the attention as she turned and walked back into the dorm room.

"What... Just happened?" Blake asked aloud in confusion as she continued to stare at the heiress. Jaune simply shrugged as he suggested, "Too much character breaking...?"

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Vale City Residential District-(

* * *

Vale's Residential District was vastly different to its more busy streets and its park in so many ways; the buildings are sparsely laid out, the colors vary more to the brighter and bolder sides, and the streets are emptier during the busy hours of the rest of the city. The few that were walking about, though, practically knew the district like the back of their hand... Unlike a certain crane-armed Bugster that roamed aimlessly as people gawked at her in fear.

"Oh dear..." she whispered to herself, "This looks like it could be a residential area, but with how Ruby used to build her cities, this could very well be the city heart for all I know..." She looked around at the houses and saw one particular cul-de-sac that was especially filled as opposed to the rest of the sparse district. "Perfect place to start!" she declared happily as she made a quick jog towards the center of the dead-end street. Upon reaching it, everyone eyed the Bugster with caution, curiosity and fear as she raised her hands to the sky and shouted, "Listen up, people! I'm here to make your lives miserable and I'm going to start things off by summoning spires that will bestow blight upon ALL of you!" As she laughs as evil of a laugh as her rather young-sounding voice can muster, Quartz raises a foot up and slams it down onto the street, sending a plethora of shockwaves in all directions that knock a few unlucky bystanders away, which she silently apologized for, until they got to the sidewalks; at which point, the shockwaves stopped and shot upward with wires shooting out along with metal appearing out of thin air and covering the wiring until...

"Hey look, mommy!" one child said innocently, "That monster made lamps!"

At hearing this, Quartz quickly looked around, hoping to find massive pillars of haywire electricity scaring people, only to find that she had, indeed, made street lamps...

Normal... Everyday... Run of the mill... Street lamps...

"NO!" she cried out in frustration, "I said 'Blight', not 'Light'!"

As the residents begin to investigate the street lamps, one of them happens to call out to her as a thank you, saying, "We've been trying to beg the council to have these installed for months now!" Frustrated and devastated, the Bugster 'hero' grunts out a quick "I'm outta here," as she teleports once more.

A few minutes later, a certain Blue and Red Kamen Rider runs up to the cul-de-sac that was now in awe at what their first visitor brought them. 'What in the world? They're acting like they haven't seen street lamps before...' Dichro thought to himself as he ran up to the nearest person he could reach; an elderly man holding his pet chihuahua's leash.

"Excuse me, sir," the Kamen Rider called out to him as he rushes up to him, "Do you know what's going on here?" As the elderly man turned, he pointed back to the lamp post he was eyeing up and said in a shocked tone, "Some creature came up saying something about 'Light' or something, and the next thing we all know; these street lamps just grew out of the ground."

'So she's trying to do what Bagamon did... But she's even worse at it...' the Ant Faunus thought to himself in exasperation as he sighed in annoyance, 'Great...' "Ah... any idea where this creature went?" he asked the man who looked back skeptically. As he eyed the Kamen Rider down, the old man threateningly asked, "Why? Are you going to harm it in any way?"

"What? No!" Dichro replied in shock as he waved his arms a little, "I just want to bring her back to her friend; the reason she's doing all of this is to try and make herself look like a villain so that her friend can be safe."

"If she's trying to be a villain, she's doing a VERY bad job at it..." the man retorted, which caused Dichro to nod and moan out an "I know..." as he lowered his head in an exaggeratedly tired fashion. When he recovered, he asked if the man had any idea where she went, to which the answer was he wasn't sure; that all he saw was some orange dust flying off to the commercial district as he pointed to the north. With a quick thanks, the dichromatic warrior ran off towards said district; hoping to catch Quartz in time.

* * *

)-Few Minutes Later-(

)-Vale Commercial District-(

* * *

Vale's Commercial District, much like the rest of the city, was a bustling swarm of activity; from window shoppers to delivery runs and even the occasional street performance or two. If one were to truly take in the sight of it all, they would swear that this was the heart of Vale City. Though today it would find a rather... Unusual situation happening within its boundaries. More specifically near the border between the Commercial and Industrial Districts. As our Bugster would-be-villain teleports in, she eyes her new surroundings and sees that everyone is gawking at her in fear and shock. She inwardly smiles before she calls out to the citizens around her, "Alright, people, listen up! I'm here for one reason and one reason only - to make SURE you lot have a BAD time! And to make sure of that; I'm going to close out this ENTIRE area and make you all my PRISONERS!" As she says this, she raises her arms up which causes walls to form in between buildings within a three mile radius of her.

While this was going on, sirens could be heard further north as several police cars were chasing down a suspected Dust Shop robber who just so happened to be driving along the area where one of the walls formed. The suspect tried everything in his power to avoid being caught as he swerved around and dodged people, obstacles and other vehicles. As the wall rose, the suspect's car was lifted off the ground by one side and sent rolling onto it's back. Hearing the actual sounds, Quartz turned to the whole event going on and cried out, "What the?! What's going on?!" As she did this, she noticed a fatal flaw in her walling off the area plan...

She had somehow summoned walls with doors on them; allowing safe passage to and from the area. 'Oh you're KIDDING me!' she chastised herself, 'I know I messed up at things like this with Ruby, but this is ridiculous!' As she continued her mental tirade, the officers that were chasing the car pulled over in time to avoid the same fate and looked at said protrusions before looking to find what caused them. Upon seeing the creature, the police tried to piece the puzzle together but couldn't find any other solution.

"You there!" one of them called out to the Bugster, a female officer by the looks of it, "I think we owe ya one! This guy woulda been long gone if he made it to the ports!" Upon hearing this, Quartz' shock and confusion began to recede as something else took its place - something she never expected to feel and so soon after she came to be...

Anger.

Raw and unbridled rage boiled within as she growled at her own flaws and mishaps; her flaws and errors crossing her mind over and over again as she struggled to hold her rage in... She was almost ready to lose herself to her hatred and the thought of just outright attacking people herself came to mind. However, after a few seconds, she remembered why she was doing it in the first place - to save Ruby. When this thought came to her mind, she couldn't hold back the sob that forced its way out. Eventually, this lead to more and more to come out until she was full-on crying as she fell to her knees; her onlookers watching in morbid fascination and curiosity. As this happened, the walls, themselves, began to dissolve in orange pixels; leaving the areas where they were as undisturbed as if the walls never even existed. She continued to cry as she sat there, undisturbed, until she heard someone speaking to her.

"You okay there?"

* * *

)-Earlier-(

* * *

Having failed to catch up with his target, the Kamen Rider tried to chase after her towards the Commercial District. He also, however, failed to find a speed boost power-up and had to literally run the entire way there on his own power; exhausting himself enough that he had to stop just short of a bus stop to catch his breath. "Whew boy..." he panted out as he leaned on a pole for support, "I just hope she hasn't gotten into too much trouble by now..." Exhaling heavily, he looked around for any sign of her. Finding none immediately in sight, he spotted a Rejuvenation power-up across the street and tried to will it to him with an outstretched hand. It flew only halfway before it fell onto the ground and shattered on contact. "Ugh... Great... I'm too exhausted to even do that..." he stated in exasperation as he continued to search for more clues as to where Quartz was.

That's when he noticed a wall forming out of nowhere when he looked behind him. In a surprised cry, he jumped back a little and eyed it up before noticing it formed perfectly between the buildings without disturbing them. "What in the -" he started to say in confusion before realization dawned on him, "Quartz! She's gotta be in there! But how do I get in?" Upon saying this, he quickly noticed the door that stood right in front of him and stared at it with a hidden expression of deadpan.

"Really... Crapbaskets, I'm an idiot..."

As he walked up to the door, he noticed something was wrong with his HUD. Taking a quick look, he noticed that his level was no longer 21, but now the full level 50. He also noticed that one of his four Power-Up Chain slots was locked back up; leaving him with the ability to only chain three Power-Ups at one time, but the timer that normally would appear for them also had a sideways 8 on them - the symbol for infinity. Looking even more, he also noticed something near the top of the HUD: it read " _Bugster detected! Now running in Debug Mode!_ "

"Debug Mode?" he asked himself quietly, "What the hell is that?"

His answer never came, however, as the door he started to reach for suddenly vanished along with the wall it was attached to in a flurry of orange pixels. 'Oh no - Please let her be okay!' he pleaded in his head as he made a mad dash for the area the walls were surrounding, and quickly found said Bugster on her knees crying. Mentally sighing, he quickly thanked whatever deity was listening that she was okay before walking up to her cautiously and asking, "You okay there?"

Quartz turned in surprise to see the armored rider; multiple thoughts running through her mind as she stared him down in confusion before she simply shook her head and effectively her body as she replied, "No, I'm NOT okay... Who are you, anyway?"

At first, this question shocked Dichro but looking at his HUD reminded him that he was in his Kamen Rider form which meant that Quartz doesn't know who he is. Sighing, he explained that he was someone who was trying to help her as he walked up to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't we find a more secluded place to talk first?" the dichromatic warrior suggested as he looked around to the people eyeing them, "We have too many witnesses already and what I have to say can't be said in public..." At her skeptical glance, he added, "Just trust me, okay?" This seemed to suit her just fine as she nodded before he started lead her away.

'This is going to be hell in a handbasket to explain...' he thought to himself as he lead her to a rather unused alley, 'Especially to something I'm meant to fight... I just hope I can find a way to clear her game...'

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

And with that, we end the new chapter of the Paradox of Remnant! Will Dichro find a way to help both Ruby AND Quartz? And what is this strange creature that Weiss has suddenly made friends with? Let's find out together next time...

See you next game!


	24. Vale's Blossom

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls, and a VERY belated Happy Halloween to you all! Such a shame I never get to celebrate it anymore, but oh well; what can you do? I just wish to say that I am SO sorry this chapter took so long to be finished, but I'm having computer troubles that I can't control anymore; I'm hoping to get a brand new one by Black Friday, so hold on tight...

That being said, I need to address an issue I'm sure is wandering around...

NORMALLY, as soon as a chapter is posted, I start writing the next one. There, I said it; I try to work back to back on the chapters and only take breaks when absolutely necessary OR when my comp just goes kaput...

With that out of the way, let's start on the new chapter! Oh - first thing's first!

Disclaimer: Only Dichro, Quartz, the Kuroto wannabe, and any other OCs mentioned are owned by me. Kamen Rider and RWBY are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Vale/Forever Fall Outskirts-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

As I lead Quartz away from prying eyes, I just now notice that we were coming up to the border of the Forever Fall Forest - No wonder the Grimm were able to get there so fast...

Anyway, as I lead her there, she tried to introduce herself to me as if she didn't know me and I had to tell her who I was. She was shocked at first but then she started acting weird soon after, so I took note of her actions. She was holding her hands together rather nervously... Almost like she was expecting to be scolded or spanked or something; poor thing was starting to act more and more like Ruby. I turned to her with a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's okay, Quartz... You didn't do anything wrong."

"But I was TRYING to do bad things and they kept messing up!" she almost shouted at me...

I simply shook my head and asked her why she even thought it was necessary. She told about overhearing what it took to cure Ruby and decided that finding a way to complete her game wasn't worth waiting around. Normally, I would have agreed, but this was a special case; a first case, technically, but a special one nonetheless. I sighed as I replied, "Normally, yeah, that's what's needed. But you're special - you and Ruby both are; for reasons I cannot go into just yet, but I promise that I will eventually." I gave her a quick, brotherly, one-armed hug and said as I let go, "We need to go about this as carefully as possible to find a way to help both of you survive this." Quartz looked at me like she was confused and asked if I meant it, to which I replied, "Of course I do; you're a lot like Ruby and my baby sister, so I have to help you clear this." As I said this, a thought came to mind; 'If anyone knows how to clear Skyliners, it's the very AI that came out of it,' I deduced in my head. Snapping my fingers in realization, I cried out, "I GOT IT!" which spooked Quartz as I heard her squeak out in surprise. Turning to her and muttering an apology, I asked her, "Quartz, from what you can remember, is there an ending to the game Skyliners?" My hopes were starting to rise as I watched her raise a hand to her screen face and start rubbing it in thought.

Those hopes, however, were dashed as she shook her head negative and said, "I'm afraid not... Skyliners is a game that doesn't have an ending..." As I hung my head in dejection, she then said something that gave me some form of hope back; "The closest to clearing the game that I can think of is clearing the Tutorial level..."

"There's a tutorial level?" I asked her. She nodded affirmative before she explained what it was; "The Tutorial Level is where the player learns what's needed to create and operate a city and is usually finished when we build the city's own personal Cross Continental Transit tower..." At hearing this, multiple ideas and theories started to run through my head; each one involving what would happen if another tower were introduced to Remnant, but ultimately it all came to the same conclusion - That this had to be done in order to help not just Ruby and Quartz, but also the rest of Remnant...

That we HAD to build this new tower...

"Let's do it, then," I said as I walked ahead and simply stretched my left arm over my chest with my right arm holding it by the elbow. I heard a strange noise similar to stuttering, but more fritzy; if that even is a real word, coming from behind me, so I assumed that it was Quartz being surprised. My assumption was correct when she cried out "WHAT?!" as I started to stretch out my right arm. I turned my head to her and explained, "Whatcha mean 'What?' I mean it - let's build that tower." As I said this, I started to work on stretching my legs as she once more exclaimed, "But that's a bad idea! Vale already has its own tower - what if the other kingdoms find out and try to blame Vale for having an extra tower-"

"Then pardon my language," I started as I stood back up and turned to her, "But FUCK them!" I walked up to her as I continued, "This isn't about just Vale... Nor is it just about Vacuo, nor Mistral, and not even Atlas..." I held her by the shoulders as I looked her square in the eyes for a few moments; my determination at seeing this through growing by the second. "This is about you and Ruby. And what happens to the two of you WILL matter in the end. Let the rest of the world think whatever the hell they want - I'm doing this for my friends and you should be, too; that's where it matters the most!"

I watched as she stared in shock before I smirked under my helmet and said, "Now how's about we get started?" I took my hands off her shoulders and got into a thinking pose as ideas swarmed into my head as I muttered a little too loudly, "Of course, I'm going to need some power-ups before we get started - heavens above knows you might not be able to control that power of yours entirely..."

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!?" Man, that Bugster has a pair of lungs on her... All I could hear was ringing after that! Smacking my head a bit, I shook out the cobwebs she just put in my brain before finally explaining to her what I meant, "You weren't meant to be able to act on your own - even in the game... You've always had someone to tell you what they wanted you to do and you always had to follow it; in other words, you've always done what the player has asked you to do. So for this to work, I need to know what you want to do so that I can act as your avatar to select things for you." As I looked to her when I finished, I could see excitement start to form in her smiling expression before she clapped her hands repeatedly. That's when I suddenly found myself looking at the sky with a hefty weight on my chest and abdominal area...

As I looked down, I could see her hugging me and saying "Thank you!" over and over again - I couldn't help the chuckle that escaped me as I replied, "It's no problem, but we need to hurry. There's no telling how long Ruby has."

"Oh that's right - I forgot!" she exclaimed as she jumped off me and started to look around. "But um... where are we building it?" she asked. I looked around, quite stumped by the question myself, before I nodded as I saw a large clearing nearby and pointed to it saying, "How about over there? It's large, open, and has a path leading up to it that we can work with." As I turned back to her, I noticed she was looking at the spot in thought and nodded after a few minutes before saying, "That'll DEFINITELY work!"

With our goal in mind, I ran to the spot; determined to fix this mess as soon as possible.

I just hope nothing bad happens while we're gone...

* * *

)-Beacon Academy, RWBY's Dorm-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

"Oh you are so pweshus - we're gonna be best fwends, oh yes we are!" the heiress coo'd as she sat on her bed, and cuddled and held Snowbell, or Schneeglocke if you were to ask a certain white-haired, teenaged, opera singer; while said little caterpillar was chirping up a storm trying to cuddle her back as well as trying to coax her to play with it. Anyone else who was watching the scene would have said that Weiss never acted so childish in their entire time knowing her and that she never looked cuter than she did now...

Anyone, that is, except for the two people watching her from Team RWBY's Dorm door...

Blake, being a Cat Faunus, had this nagging feeling that somehow this thing she was 'cuddling' and 'playing with' meant bad news for all of them... Her co-watcher, Ren, on the other hand was having different thoughts running through his mind as he examined the scene before them; his most prominent thoughts were what it was, where it came from and why was it here. His thoughts soon changed to what would happen if Nora ever got ahold of it, thankful that she and the rest of his team were busy helping Jaune finish up his new weapon, and... Needless to say, he hoped and prayed that she would never be allowed near it. Those thoughts soon changed when he saw it wiggle out of Weiss' arms and started to crawl and roll all over the heiress' lap and covers in much the same way a puppy would a new home. Seeing her giggle up a storm at the sight made Ren and Blake each quirk an eyebrow as they both thought at the same time, "Just how much of a childhood was she denied?" And how was Yang taking all of this, you ask? Well...

She decided the best way to deal with it was by not being in the same room as them; and checking on Ruby while she was at it.

Weiss began to tickle Snowbell's underside, watching it squirm, chirp excitedly, and try to reach for her fingers with it's legs in retaliation. Seeing that she was in no immediate danger, despite what her instincts were telling her, Blake turned away from the heiress for only a brief moment to look out the window - only to notice something visibly odd to appear in the side near the Forever Fall Forest. She decided to investigate what it was she was seeing before she walked closer to the window with a soft "Huh?" being muttered as she got closer. Hearing this, Weiss looked up at Blake asking, "What's going on?" The raven-haired girl merely spoke "You may want to see this," as she continued to stare out at the window. Weiss picked up her little friend and held it close to her chest as she got up and walked over to the window.

When the heiress looked out of it, she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-With Dichro and Quartz-(

* * *

Upon reaching their destination, Dichro and his Bugster friend began to examine the clearing, upon Quartz' recommendation, to find any traces of blemishes or possible hazards that could potentially disrupt or even destroy their project, but soon became thankful that the worst they could find was that it was slightly uneven terrain and nothing more. They soon contemplated on how large the tower would be but only for a few moments before the dichromatic warrior shrugged and said, "Honestly, this one is all you, Quartz - you're the engineering genius... All I am is the guy who picks what you want." At hearing this, Quartz looked at her new friend in shock and awe before asking what he meant. Under his helmet, the Ant Faunus simply smiled as he turned to her and said, "That's the way these types of games normally work, right? The player picks what they want and the game does the rest? Well I'm throwing a spin into that and letting you decide what you want and I'll select it for you; I'll be your human - er... Faunus cursor." Excitement boiling within her, Quartz couldn't help but tackle the poor Kamen Rider in a bear hug as she repeatedly said "Thank you!" over and over.

Upon letting go, she turned to the clearing and said, "We're going to make the BEST tower I can think of - but we need a solid foundation to start off with." Hearing this, Dichro merely waved her off as he walked towards the center of the clearing and said, "Then leave it to me; just tell me where to stand and I'll do my part." With that said, she told him to stop where he was and raised her crane arm above her head; this resulted in a large but short cylinder to form around Dichro with an upside down pyramid on top of where the center of the cylinder was. When it finished forming, she told him to try and make contact with the pyramid in any way he could. Looking around, the dichromatic warrior began to try and will any power-ups nearby to him as he raised his arms to either side. He did everything he could think of to force the power-ups to him, but none came... 'Maybe I'm trying TOO hard?' he questioned himself as he looked around. Deciding to try his theory out, he spread his arms out once more and simply brought them together in a slapping motion without his hands making contact with each other. True enough, the moment his hands moved, a plethora of power-ups were brought to the forefront; more than he could think of using at the moment, in fact. He pointed to each one, deciding whether it's good or not, before settling on 2 particular power-ups; the familiar Speeding-Up medal and a blue medal with the image a Rider jumping. With the two power-ups selected, the others soon shot off like rockets before the selected medals sped towards him and shattered upon contact.

" **SPEEDING UP!** "

" **HIGH JUMP!** "

"Okay, that should do it," Dichro called out as he looked at his target. With a quick leap, he reached up to the pyramid and threw his left hand onto the top of it. Upon contact, the pyramid glowed softly as the cylinder began to fill up with concrete that seemingly came from nowhere; hardening as it took the shape of it's supposed container. Throughout the concrete, wire meshes and rebar poles formed in such a way to give the shape more stability and strength as it dried. The ground soon became covered in a circular foundation fit for a tower. As this finished forming, Quartz raised both her hands up and spread them outward once they were above her head. The result of this soon became clear as girders and railings of all kinds soon formed from the new foundation as well as several other building materials.

As they started to come together, Quartz walked onto the new foundation, a stone walkway forming underneath her feet, before stopping on the other side and turning around completely. With her arms stretched to the sides, a transparent tube began to form around her with the addition of several support beams on the outside of the tube to keep it stable and a metallic platform under her feet that began to lift her up to the higher parts of the soon-to-be building. As she ascended, plates of green-colored metal began to appear around the girders that now formed the skeleton of the building; each with the same pyramid similar to the foundation with the tips pointing to their respective plates. Immediately as the plates started forming, Dichro's first thoughts at seeing them were getting out before he got stuck and simply ran out between two of them. Noticing the focus points, as he called the pyramids, he ran onto one of the plates and kicked it; this caused the plate, which was larger than he was even in Kamen Rider form, to slam into the foundation and start to form a wall. He noticed the other plates were starting to do the same as the one he just kicked but saw that others started to form that needed to be pressed down just like the one he was on. 'Looks like it's time to take the initiative and just run like hell,' he thought to himself as he started to run along the new wall and take in just how fast and big this tower was going to be.

His mind wandered once more. As he continued to help build the tower, he thought, 'I can already tell this is going to turn some heads.'

* * *

)-Beacon Port-(

* * *

He had just found the person responsible for catching one of Roman Torchwick's highest pawns.

He had just learned of the existence of an entire realm outside of Remnant.

He had just witnessed an inexplicable creature being born.

And he is walking away from it all with a potential new piece of tech to further protect Atlas with.

All in all, General Ironwood was feeling pleased with himself as he continued to walk to his personal aircraft out of Vale accompanied by a few Atlesean Guards as he held the Gamer Driver in his hand. His thoughts, however, soon drifted to the boy's advice on said device. 'If what he's saying is true,' the general mused to himself, 'Then I'm holding what could be the most powerful weapon in the world... If I have to reveal Penny's existence to the world, and even my own personal project, in order to protect this device, then so be it; this device must NOT fall into the wrong hands.'

"Whoa, look at that!" someone cried out in awe off in the distance. This cut the Atlas Headmaster's thoughts off as he looked around; trying to find what it was that caught everyone's attention. One of his guards pointed towards the Forever Fall Forest's direction, and, when he looked, he was left in the same awe as those he was surrounded by. In the distance, a metallic pillar of green was forming - rising, almost - from the ground up; it looked as if a new tree or plant was growing with the way it was forming. What's more, a brilliant yellow streak was circling and wrapping around the new pillar that continued to grow in height. The general was so in shock at the sight of it all that he lost all recognition of his surroundings trying to walk towards the unknown structure. It wasn't until one of his guards called out his name and yanked him back by his robotic arm that he realized the mistake he was about to make. He looked down and realized that his foot was a mere INCH away from stepping over the edge of the port.

Turning around, he thanked the soldier that had saved his life who, in turn, asked the general, "What in the world IS that?"

As he thought of what it could be, his mind came to so many conclusions that he couldn't decipher any of them as the true purpose; an enemy stronghold, a new battlement, a secret Valean Project - the whole works. Giving up the endeavor, he simply shook his head and replied, "I honestly cannot tell..."

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Beacon Headmaster's Office-(

* * *

Ozpin was doing some simple records checking and paperwork when a soft beeping alerted him to new action in Vale City. As he sipped his coffee, the Beacon Headmaster thought it was something of little importance that still needed to be seen regardless. He pressed a few buttons on his desk as a holoscreen appeared in front of him, but the scene shown on it was anything but little.

He watched as a giant tower was forming from the ground up, encircled by a yellow streak, as if it were a plant growing; he even noticed some platforms appearing on the sides like leaves on a stem.

Once more, Ozpin was left utterly speechless as his mug, for the second time in his life, slipped from his hand and shattered against the floor.

* * *

)-With Dichro and Quartz-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I cannot BELIEVE I'm actually doing this!

I cannot BELIEVE I'm actually doing something so damned EPIC!

As I continued to run around the tower, my thoughts continued to run in disbelief of what Quartz and I are actually accomplishing - and we've got NO co-ordination, either, which is NUTS! I couldn't help but laugh loudly in excitement that I was sure Yang could feel all the way at Beacon. At the same time, I could feel the guilt that was boiling up in Yang as time went on, so I had to keep going; it was our only shot at curing Ruby AND keeping Quartz safe. I noticed several large platforms appearing every so often so, like I did the foundation, I simply punched the icons to select those spots and let it do what it wants to do.

Eventually, though, all things must come to an end...

I noticed the top of the tower had a rather bulbous shape to it at first and ran up to it to investigate; it was only here, and just now, that I was able to truly comprehend just how tall this tower was...

It was easily taller than even Beacon Tower - I could see for miles on end where I was. I felt a small tremor before looking down; that's when I noticed the bulbous shape was actually opening up into comma-shaped, glossy blue panels that looked oddly enough like solar panels. They also reflected the sky quite beautifully, I might add. I quickly stood on one of the tips as steadily as I could before seeing that there was a final icon; one that was above some strange prong with a golden sphere at the tip and a couple of light-blue rings going around it. I considered just slapping it like before just to end this, but I thought, 'Why not end this with some style?' So I lept as high as my super-powered legs could take me and pulled the GGD out just enough to unlock it from its holster, turned the dial to its default position and back to Perfect Puzzle, before slamming it down into the holster as quickly as I could.

" **DUAL GASHAT! PERFECT CRITICAL COMBO!** "

As I threw my foot forward, I noticed a light blue energy spiraling around my leg along with the normal blue energy and the yellow speed-up energy. As expected, I actually crashed my kick into the icon instead of the actual building which allowed me enough footing to kick off of it into an unintended back-flip that, somehow, I landed perfectly on one knee. As I looked up, I could hear the GGD make the same sound that signaled the death of an enemy upon the finisher's completion.

" **All clear!** "

I smiled widely and prayed that it worked before watching in amazement as the yellow orb changed to a beautiful lavender color and glowed softly. As the glow became more brilliant, a pulse of green energy shot out from the rings surrounding the prong. I tried to block it, but as I did I felt nothing and was wondering what happened; so I looked out to the city and watched as the pulse shot over the entire city of Vale and actually reach Beacon. It was then that I heard the familiar chime of the Level Up sound, but, this time, I heard something else; something different... I looked back at the prong and saw that there were two simple words above it along with fireworks firing behind them that were also repeated in the same voice that called out when I leveled up, and it nearly brought me to tears.

" **GAME CLEAR!** "

We had done it - we cleared Quartz' game! I cheered in absolute joy and nearly fell off the tower as my foot slipped. Looking down, I decided to simply hop off the "petal" and slide down the entirety of the tower, being mindful of where I was going to keep myself from breaking any windows by mistake and wondered if Ruby and the others were alright.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Team JNPR's Dorm-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Yang, in all her carefree wonder, was not usually nor easily displaced by current events. This time, however, was one of those rare moments that she could truly say she was caught off guard. As she sat in a chair seated next to the occupied bed, watching over Ruby as an Eagle would her chicks, Yang contemplated and replayed the events that had happened prior to Ruby's illness in her head; each time she came to the same, sickening conclusion - that she was the one at fault. "I'm so sorry, Rubes..." she apologized to her sleeping half-sister, "I am SO so sorry... I should have tried to stop you from touching that thing - I should have known that's what it would do..." She shook her head as she rested a hand on Ruby's arm before continuing. "Like I said before, I know things that I really wish I didn't; things that would make anyone feel... Useless. That's the best way I can describe this... It's just so frustraitin' that I can't do anything to help - that's the entire REASON I wanted to be a huntress to begin with! I figured that if I could help people while I'm just travelin' around wherever I wanted, then that would be the best way possible for me to do some good... But I was wrong; just like when I tried to find my mom all those years ago, and nearly lost you because of it."

She looked down at her feet solemnly, her hand still resting on Ruby's arm and gently gripping it more, before she continued, "Now I know... I know that I have to do more than just wander around, lettin' the wind take me wherever; I need to learn to stand my ground for what I believe in - to find something to focus on and to protect what's precious to me." The blonde brawler looked back to Ruby with a sad smile and said, "Startin' with you and Dichro. I promise, Ruby, that I will NEVER harm you in any way or push you away when you need me. You thought I was a great Big Sister before? You're going to be in for a surprise once you wake up."

As soon as she said this, though, Yang felt an unusual amount of excitement and looked around confused at what it was that caused her bondmate to exude so much emotion when she suddenly heard the bed squeaking and jumped in shock when she saw Ruby sitting upright and wide-eyed in curiosity like nothing happened. "Rubes!" she called out to her half-sibling. As soon as she turned to face her, the blonde brawler continued, "What are you doin'? You should be restin'."

"But I feel fine, Yang," the crimsonette replied, "In fact, I feel better than fine; like when I used to do 'that' before going to Signal Academy."

"Wait... Really?" Yang asked in disbelief. Ruby merely nodded before jumping, quite literally, out of bed and twirling onto one foot as she landed with a joyful cry of "Whoop!" The blonde sibling continued to stare at her younger sibling in disbelief for a few moments before she settled for bringing her into a hug with a wide smile on her face. "I'm just glad you're okay, sis," she said as she loosed her arms before resting her hands on the crimsonette's shoulders, "You have NO idea how worried I was about you."

"I'm sorry..." Ruby whispered softly as she looked down, only for Yang to lay a hand on the top of her head and forced her to look up at her. With a small smile, the blonde brawler said, "No, Rubes... I'M the one who should say sorry... I knew what was goin' on, somewhat, but I did nothing to stop it... I'm sorry."

For the first time since they were young, Yang was surprised when her half-sister initiated their next hug as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around her big sister's neck, and was even more surprised as she suggested, "Let's just agree to disagree, okay?" Smiling broadly, the blonde brawler hugged her little sister tightly and nodded before asking, "How about we go back to our dorm and get dressed? I'm sure the others are worried about all the noise just now."

Nodding as she let go, Ruby quickly replied with, "Sure," before she left the room in a hurry. It was then that Yang realized her mistake when she heard the little reaper cry out, "OH MY GOSH, THAT IS SO CUTE!"

'Oh no... She found THAT thing,' was her final thought before she slumped out of the room.

* * *

)-Back with Dichro and Quartz-(

* * *

Quartz had just walked outside the front entrance to the completed and empty tower before she felt something crash into her back after hearing someone yell, "LOOK OUT!" Laying flat on the ground with her right leg tangled into someone else's, she tried to look around to find who had crashed into her; it turned out, as she found, that it was none other than Dichro still in his Puzzle Gamer form. "You could have warned me..." she deadpanned. Chuckling nervously, the dichromatic warrior quickly untangled his own leg from her's as he got up and turned to help her in return, to which she gladly took in hand. Turning to admire her work, the Bugster couldn't believe how beautiful the tower itself was and thought, 'Ruby never would have built something like this.' Apparently, her friend held similar thoughts as he stated, "Sugoi! This is just absolutely amazing!"

"Sugoi?" she asked curiously as she turned to look at him, having never heard the word before. Dichro chuckled lightly as he explained, "Sugoi means either 'Awesome' or 'Awful', depending on the context." She muttered a quick "Oh," as she turned back to the tower before a thought hit her.

"Hey, Dichro..." she called for his attention before asking, "What do you think we should call it?" Looking at the tower, the young man thought for a second before deciding on a suitable name that he could think was most fitting of any other.

"How about... Vale Blossom Tower?" he suggested. Quartz quickly agreed and jumped in joy saying, "That's perfect! We should go tell the others!" Taking this in mind, he asked her if she could teleport him with her to make the trip faster. Again, she agreed as she held his shoulder and both figures dissolved in a flurry of orange pixels.

)-xXx-(

Once more, I am SO sorry for the delay on this chapter, but do bear in mind that I'm also trying to fix this as soon as I can. I promise the story has NOT been abandoned, but will be put on a temporary hiatus... Until the next chapter, though...

See ya next game!


	25. Preparations

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! I just want to give a quick word of warning and say... My Laptop got fried... Don't worry, I saved all my files. The motherboard on it is totaled so there's no saving it. However, I have good news; I have a BRAND NEW COMPUTER!

Yay!

So with that said, I'm still getting used to this new and powerful machine. sadly, more bad news is that my mother broke her arm the weekend before Thanksgiving and I have to keep an eye on her even more now, so updates will be slow until she gets better. They may speed up again as I go along, but I am still working on the story regardless. Just please, be patient.

Anyway, things have started to get weird within Vale and this isn't even the end of it! As such, be prepared for what will come next.

Disclaimer: Dichro, the Kuroto-wannabe, and any OCs mentioned are all that I own. Kamen Rider and RWBY are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Unknown Location-(

)-An Hour after VBT-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Within the confines of what appeared to be a normal, empty warehouse, the thoughts of many of it's hidden occupants began to swirl as news of recent events began to spread. Already, the White Fang knew that they were running behind as it was but were also recently ordered to hasten their efforts to complete their goal. The reasoning for this hastening boggled everyone's minds, but once it sank in each member had slowly started to realize that the organizational occupation in Vale was effectively, and rather royally, screwed.

First, there was the 'failed' freight train heist mere days before the initiation of Beacon.

Then came the recent botch of the last wave of dust store robberies, along with the capture of the second-in-command of their business partner; Neopolitan.

And now... The very news that was being delivered by a woman in her early twenties with lavender hair and golden eyes wearing a very dark gray business jacket with a violet undershirt along with a title bar running across the bottom of the screen with the name " _Lisa Lavender_ " on it along with a globe to the left with the letters " _VNN_ ". To the top left of the screen, a blue-green square with a white flower appears next to the woman's head with the words " _Flower Tower Power?_ " below the actual flower itself.

"... and in unrelated news," she continued with her report, "Eye witness accounts from all over Vale are rolling in describing the phenomenon that has caught the eyes of not only its citizens, but those of neighboring kingdoms." As she said this, the flower image changed to the image of a large tower resembling a blossoming flower towering over Vale, "Astoundingly, a large and rather magnificently designed tower has somehow 'grown' out of nowhere near the border of the Forever Fall Forest. Amateur footage has been caught from multiple areas of Vale City showing the process in both still form and motion picture."

Upon announcing this, the image soon became a video showing the tower 'growing' as a yellow streak ran around its 'stem' as she continued, "Furthermore, we've had word from Headmasters Ozpin AND Ironwood, the latter of whom was visiting under personal pleasure at the time, that the new tower will be given a joint investigation by both Valean and Atlesean representatives."

Soon, the woman is replaced by the scene of a public conference with Ozpin standing at a podium with Glynda Goodwich at his left and James Ironwood seated at his right as he spoke out to the audience. "It is with deep concern that we undergo immediate inspections of this new tower to determine if it is safe to even be in, what its purpose is, and hopefully discover who is responsible for such a marvel. I will say, however, that the Kingdom of Vale has had no hand in it's construction," he explained, pausing to let the clamoring die down some before he continued, "As such, the council of Vale have issued this joint investigation with the council of Atlas due to their advancement in technology. If this process can be replicated, then the potential for Mankind's survival and possible advancement is immeasurable. For the moment, however, we will refer to the tower as the Vale Blossom Tower; a name coined by several students of Beacon Academy, and will be closed off to all unauthorized personnel until further notice. That is, unfortunately, all I can say at this time."

As the video shrunk, Ozpin bows his head to the audience before leaving the podium with the crowd he was talking to trying to demand more answers from him. The woman soon reappeared as she resumed her report stating, "With that, the world is now in wonder at just what could have the capacity to perform such a feat, in broad daylight no less, within the time span of a mere hour. Will this tower be a hindrance to Mankind? Or is it a sign of prosperity to come? VNN will be sure to discover the answers as the development ensues. In a related story -"

The video feed was cut off for one particular observer as she squeezed her red finger-nailed hand, crushing the scroll she was using at the time out of utter shock. The woman in question had ashen-black hair and bright amber eyes wearing a dark-red, off-the-shoulders, v-neck mini dress with yellow designs with a blue feather-like accessory on her right hip, at the top of an open portion of her dress that ends in an upside-down triangular tail in the back, ending just above the knees; this was Cinder Fall and to say she was surprised was an understatement.

And not in a good way.

"What the fuck!?" she whispered to herself as she replayed the news in her mind; ignoring all the murmurs going around and the word of mouth being passed. She stayed in this trance for only a few seconds until she heard someone calling her out - and quite literally, too. "CINDER! WHERE ARE YOU!" she heard the voice call out. As she looked around, shaken from her stupor, she noticed a rather tall man with slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, orange hair, with long bangs covering his right eye wearing a red-lined white suit with long black pants and black shoes, a small gray scarf, black gloves with buckled sleeves, and a black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band walking up to her; walking cane gripped firmly in his right hand and his face in a scowl with gritted teeth. As he reached her, he motions to the news being spread throughout the makeshift base as he asks her, "Have you been seeing ANY of this?!"

As she stared at him incredulously, she tried to grasp at what he was referring to; if he meant the tower or the incidents, but he soon answered her unspoken question as he said, "Your animals have not only messed up bringing that train you promised to acquire, but they've also cost me my number one escape route - and after all that trouble I went through to steal those Atlesean Paladins for your lot! Do you know how hard it is to invade a maximum security Atlas Robotics and Engineerings lab?!"

"Hardly any trouble at all for someone like you," Cinder taunted, though she was waved off by her so-called 'cohort' as he replied, "Even so, it's the fact that it happened at all is the point. And now we see an Oum-Damned tower just literally POPPING out of the ground!? I don't know about you, but whom EVER is responsible for this is starting to look more and more in the same league as your boss." As he said 'boss', he shoved the end of his cane into Cinder's chest, causing her to stumble a little, before continuing, "And I don't know about you, but, me personally, I am NOT wanting to get caught up in what is effectively a 'Battle of Gods'; so unless you have something that is actually WORTH compensating for this ENTIRE dilemma, our business is done!" Cinder ground her teeth together as she glared at the man who dared to defy her queen's plans before an idea struck her as she gave a teasing smile...

A terrible, awful idea.

She lazily held her hand to her side as the yellow designs began to glow softly, her smile growing slightly as she focused her aura onto the infused dust in her dress before suggesting to the thief before her, "If you want a greater reward... Then how about your life?" Before he could contemplate what she meant, Roman heard a shattering sound to his right and soon felt something cut into the side of his head as the force sent him flying with his cane leaving his hand and clattering onto the floor. Cinder only grinned as she watched the scene before her; even as the onlookers started to shift their attention from the news reporter to their so-called leaders. As Roman started to sit up, he shook his head and felt it to find his hat also flew off but he became worried as he looked at his hand and saw some crimson liquid coating his gloved fingers. "What the hell did you just do, bitch?!" he called out in anger as he pulled himself to his feet.

"I gave you what you wanted," was the woman's reply as she gave a snide smirk, "I gave you something worthy of this entire ordeal - your life in exchange for your services." This news was shocking to everyone listening, but none were moreso than Roman who was staring at her in horror before asking what she meant by that. "Tell me..." Cinder started as she walked to him, her hips swaying slightly with each step as her smirk grew more, "Have you ever wondered what it would feel like for your brain to be turned into confetti from the inside out?" Watching his face contort in confusion, she gave a light chuckle as she explained, "I've implanted a small glass fragment into your skull; just deep enough that it can easily go into your cranial cavity, but not actually touch the brain. If I send out a small pulse of my aura, the fragment shatters and turns your brain into ribbons of graymatter. And all of this happens..." She holds her hand up with her middle finger and thumb tips touching and her index finger pointed out as she continued, "... with the snap of my finger."

The professional thief felt his throat start to clench shut and his collar suddenly felt tighter as he gulped loudly and pulled on his collar. Lowering her hand, Cinder glared at him long and hard, her smile dropping entirely, before she said, "So either you do as I tell you to or I promise you that anything short of total obedience and undying loyalty will be your undoing."

* * *

)-The Next Day-(

)-Beacon Workout Station-(

* * *

"You better step it up, brat, or else you're really going to get hurt!"

'Not helping my situation!' the dichromatic young man internally scolded his mentor, Qrow; whom was standing off to the side, as he narrowly dodged a diagonal sword slash from his blond opponent by stepping back and bending backwards slightly. Just as Jaune started a vertical downward slash, Dichro had lifted his weapons to intercept the sword as he laid Plague and Pestilence flat against each other, the blades of the sword and the tomahawks catching each other as both opponents grunted in effort trying to push the other off. Perturbed, the Ant Faunus kicked his weighted down body upwards as he tilted his left hand up slightly; causing Jaune's sword to glide across the axe's blade and chin. Seeing his chance, the young man pulled back on Pestilence before swinging it at a downward angle, but was blocked when the blond knight hoisted his new shield up and caught the blade between the actual face and its now revealed barrel.

'Gotcha!' Jaune gloated to himself as he pulled the trigger at the moment the weapon and shield made contact. Upon pulling the trigger, a golfball-sized metal diamond shape with a red and yellow crystal sphere in the middle shot out and latched itself upon the tomahawk. Upon hearing the firing mechanism as he landed on the floor, Dichro jumped back a little ways as he flung Pestilence straight for his opponent with his fingers running along the white ribbon as it flew forward. Seeing this, the blond knight held his shield up and pressed a button at the top of the handle near his thumb; upon doing this, a small explosion erupts from the tomahawk and sends it flying upwards. As his attention focused on the now airborne weapon, he failed to recognize the oncoming threat from the smokescreen left by the mine he had planted.

From behind the cloud, Dichro spun his other weapon in his hand as he pulled Pestilence towards him before throwing it where he had last seen Jaune. Thankfully, because of his opponent's distraction, the axe flew at high speeds through the dust and nails Jaune in the gut; sending him into the ground as the dichromatic young man recalled Plague with a sharp tug of its ribbon.

From his position, Qrow could see that both combatants were trying to learn from each other simply due to how 'calculated', and he would use that term VERY loosely in Jaune's case, their moves were. The old man still couldn't believe that Dichro actually requested a set of workout weights specifically for him as a means to increase his speed even as he watched the Ant Faunus struggle to keep up with even Jaune. 'Weights like that would kill anyone else,' he thought to himself as he watched the dust cloud vanish and Jaune getting back on his feet staggering, 'And what's more worrying is the defect Dichro's aura has...' He remembered yesterday evening as he recalled the visit to the Infirmary and asked about some information that Ozpin wouldn't give. What he found, though, made him almost reconsider training him; he had found that, while it would help alleviate some of the stress his body would undergo, Dichro's aura would not activate to heal or repair any damage done to his body unless it was near fatal. Something like scratches or torn muscles were far and few deadly to a person, but they could just as easily mean death in a hunter's line of duty; for this reason, he was concerned that Dichro would fall behind in terms of physical health. The more he thought on it, though, the more he began to realize this may well have been a good thing. 'Thinking about it now,' he mused, 'if he trains his body despite his aura not being able to repair the damage done to his muscles immediately, then it could lead to him building up a natural pain tolerance on par with Yang's in no time.'

With that in mind, he turned his attention to his would-be apprentices for the next few weeks and spoke to each of them.

"Jaune," he called out to the blond knight, "You need to keep your eyes focused on your target; otherwise, you'll never be able to defend yourself should an attack come at you like that one did." The teenaged boy merely groaned as he sat himself up before saying, "Easy for you to say... I honestly wasn't expecting that trick of mine to work in the first place." In truth, he was hoping it would, but at the same time had doubt in himself; not like he was going to admit that openly.

"Hence the phrase 'Expect the unexpected', knucklehead." Qrow retorted, causing another groan to escape Jaune's throat in frustration as he complained, "How did I let Dichro and Pyrrha talk me into this?" The man then turned to the Ant Faunus and called out to him, "Dichro, you've got some talent picking out when to strike, but not HOW to strike. That attack of yours only worked because of sheer dumb luck. Remember, normally an enemy target will be using smokescreens or any other obstacles as cover to move around, so it's best to try and attack a wider area at one time before focusing on exactly where your target is. Got that?"

"Normally, I'd agree," Dichro said, "But this is Jaune we're talking about here - no offense, Jaune, but you aren't exactly the most mobile person to date..."

"Well... you're not... wrong..." Jaune trailed off as the realization of just how bad he was physically speaking in comparison to the rest of the team sunk in. The old man couldn't help but smirk at their antics as he spoke once more, "And that's why Dichro offered you the position as his training buddy. Besides... He is the one who told me about how you got into Beacon..." Jaune cringed in surprise, but was stopped from saying anything as Qrow held up a hand. "Let me finish... Dichro told me about how you got in, but let me ask you this; why is it do you think Ozpin let you enter this school despite knowing you weren't 'entirely' being honest?"

The blond knight could only shrug as he thought of why that was. The Ant Faunus, himself, questioned that same motive if he were to be honest, as well, before the raven hunter spoke again, "Well then, let me ask you this... Who do you think MADE those credentials in the first place?"

At hearing this, both boys looked at Qrow in shock before glancing to each other for a moment. 'No way...' was the shared thought going through their minds, but Qrow was having none of that as he clapped his hands rather loudly and said, "Okay, none of that. You need to get back to training."

And resuming their training they did.

* * *

)-Three Weeks Later-(

)-Beacon Amphitheater-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

Man... To think, it's been just under a month since I first arrived on Remnant, and only a few weeks since I was 'enrolled' in Beacon...

Needless to say... It's not as glamorous as a fan would hope it would be, but it was a far cry from being the most dull - dare I say I have been doing a Yang-up job of having fun?! Hehe, sorry; I'm almost as bad as Yang.

Almost.

Anyway, there were some downsides and some... weird times...

For example, shortly after bringing us back to Beacon, Quartz was offered a position at Beacon as a student that she at first declined because of how she was a 'monster' in appearance - and let me tell you I didn't think she looked like a monster; a mess and a half gone to hell and back? Yes. A monster? No. Back on topic, she was rambling on about her appearance but then suddenly changed topics to what she WOULD look like as a human; namely finding Ruby's dress cute and wanting to find a red version of it and whatnot...

Needless to say, we were all shocked when her body started to morph into an almost exact duplicate of said Reaper with some... minor differences... And by minor differences, I mean she looks like Ruby Rose if the red and black colors of her pallet got swapped with bright golden eyes instead of Ruby's own silver ones; meaning red hair with black tips instead of black hair with red tips, etc. In fact, she was so much like Ruby that we had to come up with the cover story of her being Ruby's long lost twin sister - which also meant Quartz would have to take up Ruby's last name. Overall, she was cute, but she was not worth the headache she was about to give me... The Dumbledore of Remnant decided that she should be my official partner and bunked her in with me - way to go, by the way - so as to make my enrollment seem more official. Then she found out she could enter a Scroll at will, so she asked for one of her own to keep from having to use mine. She couldn't stop playing Skyliners with the music at full volume for hours after she got it...

After that, I had my ears nearly yelled off by Goodwitch about the whole tower incident and tried to give me detention for the next two weeks, but Ozpin had reminded her that she would have been down a student had I not done what I did. She still decided to keep a strict eye on me, despite Ozpin's actions.

Then, that night, I tried to sleep but I kept tossing and turning every few minutes, which grew annoying. I thought it was just the pajamas that Coco had picked out, so I tried going au naturale... That got me to relax, but it still felt like something was missing... I wound up having to put them back on and started to meditate before hearing someone knock on my door. Lo and behold, Yang was there with the same problem as the night before - she couldn't sleep, either, and tried to find me... I originally wanted to tell her that we needed to stay in our own rooms, but then I saw the tired look in her eye and decided against better judgment... Needless to say, we slept like a pair of grizzlies in winter that night.

The next morning, I reported the incidents to ol' Ozzie, and come to find out he actually FORGOT to mention one teenie little flaw with soulmates of the golden bond...

When resting, they NEEDED to be near each other in order to restore their auras or else if one is resting while the other is active or away, they both become restless to the point of insomnia as their bodies PHYSICALLY lose energy as they try to replenish the missing aura...

I just hoped this didn't pass on between dimensions or realities or whatever...

Anyway, because of this, Yang was moved to my dorm permanently which upset Blake a little bit while Ruby was almost up in arms about the whole ordeal. Weiss was... distracted by her new pet... Which I ended up happening upon when I visited them with Yang.

Who knew she was scared of something so cute? Still... I had the feeling I've seen lil' Snowbell before...

I heard multiple loud clangs of metal against metal from in front of my seat at the front row, which brought me back to where I was and why I was here; it was Jaune's turn to spar with someone, and that someone happened to be the academy's own bully - Cardin Winchester.

In the show, that boy would have wiped the floor with that ditzy-headed shield user. Here, though... Well... Let's just say I helped Jaune to learn not to let the enemy get the best of him during our training. That kid was SCARY with that new shield of his; Oblito Lux or Forgotten Light as he called it. I just barely caught the sight of Cardin pulling back his mace from a failed blow deflected by Jaune's sword before swinging it straight over his own head and down towards blondie who actually blocked it with his shield. Before I knew it, he had shot a mine onto Cardin's mace head and detonated it; sending a shockwave out that knocked the bully away and flat onto his arse. 'Nice one, Jaune!' I mentally cheered as I smirked. My sentiments, however, were not shared by his opponent.

"Cheap move there, Jauney-boy!" Cardin taunted as he clambered back to his feet, "If you wanna fight dirty, then let's see you handle THIS!" He charged at Jaune, who turned Oblito Lux downward before shooting a mine onto the ground next to him and detonating it. It sent him flying sideways a few feet, but it also helped to keep Cardin off him by disorienting him. Jaune barely landed on his feet by kicking one foot towards the ground at the arc of his flight and brought the shield up to his chest before slapping it with the flat side of his sword a few times. The bully took this as a challenge and tried to charge at Jaune again, but was unprepared for the boy to place a mine behind him and detonate it; the shockwave sent blondie flying towards Cardin as he brought Oblito back in front of him just enough to cover the lower half of his face. Cardin, in response, tried desperately to bring his mace up to block it, but ended up getting body slammed by his opponent which sent both of them reeling off the stage.

"That's enough!" I heard Goodwitch call out from the other side of the amphitheater, "If this were an official match with official rulings, both of you would be declared disqualified. However, this is a class session which means we are here to develop and enrich your fighting styles; and this goes for the rest of the class, too. Now then, if you would turn your attention to this..." She pulled her scroll out and typed something on it, which caused a holoscreen to appear above the stage that showed Jaune and Cardin's Aura Levels; they were nearly neck and neck with what I assumed was a fraction of a margin in Jaune's favor as the professor continued, "You can see that Mr. Arc's aura level is just barely above Cardin's own; in fact, the difference is a 0.62% margin that would have allowed Mr. Arc to win the match if time ran out and he had not rung himself and Mr. Winchester out of bounds. However, you also noticed that during the fight Mr. Arc used his own mines as a means of making up for his lack of mobility which Mr. Winchester also lacked." At the sound of several students agreeing with her, she continued, "While this is an effective way to fight, it is also a double-edged sword meaning that his aura will suffer greatly should he have continued using such a tactic. Regardless, I have to commend you two for a fine exhibition." Cardin grumbled in annoyance while Jaune merely chuckled awkwardly as he said, "I'm just glad I lasted as long as I did..."

'Modest much?' I thought annoyed as the two returned to their seats. As they did so, Goodwitch resumed her lecture, "As you are all aware of, there was supposed to be a field trip to the Forever Fall Forest for tomorrow, but due to recent events in the past few weeks we will be rescheduling it for the day after as part of a joint search and destroy mission for a select few students." Once this bit of news came out, I heard a bunch of groans and whispers going around which brought Goodwitch to bring out her riding crop and crack it against the flooring. Even when I expect it, that sound still makes me cringe.

"Now that I have your attention, I would like to explain who these students are," she began to address the rest of the class as she holstered her riding crop, "These students, while not the best of their years, excel in the one category that is necessary for a standard SnD mission; and that is demolition. The students under this category are Coco Adel, Nora Valkyrie, Dichro Spectrum and Yang Xiao Long. These four will temporarily form Team SYAN (Cyan) and will serve as both the SnD team as well as lookouts for the rest of the class."

Evidently, this got the students even more concerned as the girl I was sitting next to said to me, "This hasn't happened before; a team being temporarily formed." That really got me worried; just how badly did I mess up the forest? I was brought out of my musings by the professor when she spoke once more, "Now with that out of the way, we have time for one more match-up. Any volunteers?"

"Actually, Professor Goodwitch, I have a recommendation," I heard someone say from the amphitheater's entrance. I almost immediately recognized it as Ozpin's voice as I hid my face in my hands and whispered, "Oh no..."

"Professor Ozpin...?" I heard Goodwitch greet him with some confusion in her voice, "I hadn't realized you would be visiting today -"

"Not to worry, I'm just a spectator today who wishes to see one particular student in action." At the time, I already had an educated guess on just WHO he wanted to see fight... I heard the professor ask him who he wanted to see, to which his reply was, "Why none other than one of our newest recruits; Dichro Spectrum." At this, I could hear everyone whispering things about me and I was SO close to shooting the man a death glare for putting me on the spot like that...

"Very well... Any recommendations for an opponent?" she inquired with him just as I slam my head onto the counter in front of me. Just as I thought he would reply, I hear Pyrrha off to the side say, "If it's not too much trouble, professor, I would like to face him." I turned my head in her direction with wide-eyed shock looking at her as if the girl had just fallen into a spike pit with snakes in it. 'The hell are you doing?!' I mentally asked myself. All the while, I could feel Yang's guilt AND enjoyment at the situation I was in. Before I could disapprove, Goodwitch had already given her the go ahead and had us sent to the dressing room...

Yes, I said 'room'.

Turns out, most of the school promotes unisexuality; go figure when you lump boys and girls together in a dorm...

Anyway, I had little choice but to accept the challenge and followed Pyrrha into the dressing room to get ready...

* * *

)-A Few Minutes Later-(

* * *

Finally, I'm out of the Beacon uniform, and those weights, and in something MUCH more comfortable. Turns out, that Bobby guy wasn't too bad at plucking random clothes and making them work. With a little help from Coco, I had settled on a navy blue zoot suit with I think she called it an amaranth underside and the right-side sleeve cut off at the seam, a pair of black slip-on dress shoes, a black elbow pad on my right elbow with a dark blue band, a blue high-collar long sleeve undershirt with the right sleeve rolled up to my bicep and held in place by a red bandana with dark blue diamonds on it, my tiki necklace around my neck, a dark blue, fingerless glove with a golden wrist band, and atop my head was a navy blue trilby, I think she called it, with a blue band around the crest. I looked at myself in the mirror and thought to myself, 'Damn, I actually look pretty good in this. I need to repay Bobby when I can.'

I turned to leave the dressing room when I remembered about Plague and Pestilence still being in my locker and started to go back to get them, but then a thought hit me; I was going against Pyrrha Nikos, a champion with the power to control metal. With that, I chose not to bring them and simply walked out onto the stage.

"Mr. Spectrum, where are your weapons?" I heard Goodwitch ask me. I sighed and scratched the back of my head as I tried to think up an excuse before settling on one. As I turned to her, I simply stated that they would only slow me down as I was not used to them just yet and that against an opponent like Pyrrha I need every advantage I can get. "That is an excuse, Mr. Spectrum, and excuses will not be tolerated here."

"If he says he can fight me better without his weapons, then I am willing to give him a chance," I heard Pyrrha defending me. Glynda pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed in clear annoyance as she rounded on my opponent before saying, "Very well... I will allow it but ONLY this once..." She then turned her attention back to me and said, "If you try this again, you will have detention as you are not allowed to be involved in this class without your weapons; is that understood?"

"Crystal clear, madam," I smirked as I replied back. That seemed to get a small smile out of her, but it didn't last long as she told us to face each other and be ready. As I turned towards Pyrrha, I notice that she finally cleaned up her hair that now rested just above the bottom of her neck thanks to the haircut Jaune gave her. She actually looked pretty good with it. Anyway, I brought my right foot back and lifted it until only the toes were still touching the floor, and lightly punched my left hand into my right palm before bringing my fists up into a relaxed boxing position. Pyrrha, on the other hand simply lifted her shield up and brought her weapon, in its sword mode, behind her pointing outward. We only had a moment's notice to size each other up before we heard the professor tell us to start our fight.

With that, we charged each other, and already I could feel my speed was way better than it used to be. Look out, Pyrrha; here comes a new challenger!

GAME ON!

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

Whew, finally; I hope I didn't make all of wait too long for that one... Also, I had to change up some slight things that I hope you'll forgive me for...

Anyway, hope you all enjoyed it, and as always...

See ya next game!


	26. Mini-Boss - The Iron Maiden

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! And Happy Holidays to you all! Before I get on with the chapter, I cannot express how upset I am at how I've kept you all waiting so long for an update... I will do my best to make sure it doesn't happen again, but I cannot guarantee that it won't because life happens.

Anyway, I sincerely apologize to all of you for how long it took and wish to make it up to you in some way. That aside, I'm actually in need of someone to help bounce ideas around; mostly someone to help me start off these chapters because when it comes to starting these chapters off I'm like a Regigigas...

I'm STUPID slow.

So please feel free to PM me if you wish to help, but know that I may not get back to you immediately. With that out of the way, let's start off with the Disclaimer.

Disclaimer: RWBY and Kamen Rider are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official releases. I only own any OC's mentioned in the story.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Beacon Headmaster's Office-(

)-An Hour Earlier-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Several weeks had passed since that day; the day not only his own world, but the ideals of others had been turned upside down. Headmaster Ozpin would never forget that day.

If he were to be honest with himself, he would never let himself live it down if he ever did grow senile enough to forget it. With that said, though, the headmaster was idly wafting through some papers and files when he happened upon Qrow's report on the progress of Dichro's training. When he had first offered up the position, Ozpin had no idea that the young man would take it so seriously as to give his own tutor idea for how to train him up. Dichro's lack of willingness to socialize with his friends and peers worried the two of them; communication is such a vital skill in the line of a hunter and should never be dismissed so easily, especially when one has a soulbond. Then there was that defect of his aura which only further worried both adults for his safety, but, even with such a handicap, it seemed that he was well on his way to meeting up with his new classmates in terms of speed and agility. With that in mind, the headmaster decided to read through the file to see what it said.

" _Hey, Oz,_ " it started off, looking more like a letter than it did a report, but then again Ozpin knew he was more of a tell it to the face man than he was a letterman, " _Not sure how one of these is supposed to look..._ " Yup, he guessed it; Qrow had no idea what he was doing. " _... but here goes. When I first saw him in action, the twerp was really clunky and had next to no co-ordination with his weapons. He even had no ammo for his weapons' alt. mode which made him stand out even as a novice... But then all that changed when he suggested those weights. After the first few days, he was able to move around in them like he wasn't even wearing them at all which shocked the hell out of me considering those weights are each around two hundred pounds; and he's wearing one on each of his limbs and one as a vest. Then he suggested Jaune do the same thing to help him out, which I have to be honest it has barely done anything for him except learn how to get his ass handed to him. Anyway, I told him we would have to up his exercises and combat training in order to work on his reflexes, and that's when he really started to pick it up. Over the next few weeks, the kid has been getting faster and faster, and even Jaune's finally starting to catch up at the time of writing this. So yeah, if you wanna know what the kid's capable of I suggest you have him show you instead._ "

This actually got Ozpin's interest as he studied the letter more. "Interesting," he spoke to no one in particular, "If what Qrow says here is true... Then we really do have a chance at ending this war before it begins. I'll need to confirm it for myself, however..." With that, he pulled himself upright as he grabbed his cane before walking out of the room and into the elevator with but one goal in mind.

To see Dichro fight in his faunus form for real.

* * *

)-Present Time-(

)-Beacon Amphitheater-(

* * *

'Now to see if Qrow's words hold merit to them,' Ozpin thought to himself as he looks to the stage from his position near middle of the stands. Upon the stage, Pyrrha and Dichro ready themselves for the fight to come just before Goodwitch calls for them to begin the spar.

The command heard, both students charged at each other; one with his fists cocked and the other with her weapon pulled back for an upward swing. As they reached each other, the Ant Faunus threw his right fist towards his opponent, being careful not to use any of his full strength, while the champion tilted herself out of the way of the punch before she swung her sword with all her might in an upward diagonal slash. With her attack connecting, the dichromatic young man was sent spiraling backwards though managed to grip the stage floor with one hand. Pyrrha gave no license as she charged once more with a horizontal slash, but despite her speed she began to internally curse her own stature as her smaller opponent nimbly rolled under the attack and landed a swift left kick into the outside of her right knee and caused her to fall to a kneeling position. With his opponent compromised, Dichro shot back up on to his feet before charging to her right side with his left fist cocked back for a punch. Before he could reach his target, however, the Invincible Girl's instincts kicked in as she swiped her sword at where he was going to be. Without a second thought, Dichro grabbed at the attacking object by the blade, and instantly regretted doing so as searing pain shot through the palm of his hand. Pushing the pain to the side momentarily, he pushed the blade away and landed his left fist into the back of her head; the force from the blow sent her rolling forward as she lost grip of her weapon.

As she careened out of reach, the dichromatic young man released his death grip on Akoúo and allowed the blade to drop to the stage floor before gripping his wrist in pain and seeing the blood-caked slit across the palm of his glove. 'Crapbaskets,' he mentally cursed himself as Yang's concern flooded his being, 'That was SO dumb!' Before he could do or think anything more, Pyrrha's shield crashed into his forehead; sending him flying backwards and crashing onto his back near the edge of the arena.

Up in the stands, their audience was watching in a mixture of awe and jealousy as this supposed newcomer was easily matching blows with a champion of Mistral without so much as a twig for a weapon. Their friends, on the other hand, were growing concerned; none moreso than Yang and her sisters.

Yang, in particular, could feel her bondmate's frustration at himself and fear about being noticed. During their private time, the golden couple had found that Dichro's Semblance had an excessively short range even when he was in his Kamen Rider form; unless he was looking directly at someone, he could only negate the Semblances of those just a foot outside his arm's reach. Eventually, she was able to teach him how to turn his Semblance off but they found out it activates all on its own. She wondered at first if that was the cause of his distress, but pushed it aside for the moment as her partner noted his actions. "Something's going on with him," Blake started, "His actions feel like he's trying to keep himself in check for some reason."

"It's almost like he's holding back against her," Weiss added in as she turned to the duo, "Any idea why?"

"He is an Ant Faunus and he has been doing some extra training with that Qrow character Ruby told us about..." the Cat Faunus replied, "But I wasn't entirely concerned about that..." Ren took note of her tone and asked her if she had realized it too. Nora was oddly the most silent of the group but her expression said it all; the poor girl was scared stiff - scared for the boy fighting her teammate. Yang started to grow even more concerned. Looking out onto the stage, she saw splats of blood on the floor of the stage where his hand had been as he got himself back up and prepared for another attack. She was almost ready to stop the fight then and there when she started to feel her bondmate's confidence rise up; to her, it was a sign that he wasn't going to give up - not by a long shot. She sighed sadly before speaking her own mind, "I don't care what it is, but he's going to owe us some answers when he's done." Her 'sisters' couldn't agree more as they both nodded in worry.

On the stage, Pyrrha had started to use her Semblance to call back the shield as it was falling down before she suddenly felt a painful pressure in her abdominal area. She didn't have long to contemplate what it was, however, as she was sent flying towards the other end of the arena while her shield clattered against the floor. Propping herself on one arm with the other resting on her solar plexus, she managed to recover enough to see her opponent standing where she had been, his left hand outstretched as if he had just thrown a punch being retracted as he reassumed his fighting pose; hopping from one foot to the other. The class was now in an uproar at the sight they had witnessed, some even calling what they witnessed the sign of his Semblance. Some way, somehow, the Ant Faunus was able to move fast enough to blur out his image in the blink of an eye. The action caught both professors' and Teams RWBY and JNPR's attentions as they watched in shock. Watching as a smirk grew on her opponent's face, Pyrrha once more tried to recall her shield, but felt her Semblance being blocked just like when she had sparred against him before; she didn't need to see his eyes to tell that they were both red - the telltale giveaway that his Semblance was active. 'My Semblance won't work with his in play like this,' she quickly thought to herself as she got back up to her feet, 'Which means I have to do this the old fashioned way.'

Pyrrha soon brought her hands up in a defensive stance before she quickly changed into a full-on sprint towards her opponent, but was caught off guard by him suddenly speeding at her and catching her gut in a right-fisted uppercut. Despite the pain she was in, she quickly grabbed his wrist and flung his lighter body in an attempt to throw him out of the way. Sadly, for her, Dichro had managed to grab ahold of one of her wrists and used it as an anchor to pull his legs into his body and land both feet into her chest; causing both of them to let go of one another, Dichro to backflip away and Pyrrha to be sent flying towards her sword. Gripping the hilt in her dominant hand, she front-flipped onto her feet and converted her weapon into its rifle mode as she brought the sight up to her face. Instead of seeing the usual crosshairs, however, she saw splotches of crimson on the lens. This shocked her to a completely frozen state until her smaller opponent once more suddenly appeared in front of her and landed a swift right sidekick into her left knee; once more causing her to stumble into a kneeling position which only lasted for a few moments as Dichro threw a left hook into her face. As she was sent rolling to the side, the Ant Faunus suddenly collapsed onto his right knee gripping his left leg in pain with both hands. 'Damnit...' he cursed once more as he tried to massage his now cramping leg, 'I'm over-doing it... I need to finish this quick!' With his goal in mind, Dichro stood up, ignoring the pain, and reassumed his stance once more.

His actions, once again, brought worry to his bondmate but Yang's feelings were now shared as both teams as well as most of the audience saw the now crimson-stained pants leg where his hand was.

"Oh my god, is he okay!?" "Someone stop the match!" "Get that kid a doctor or something!"

The cries continued on until Dichro called out to the class, "Enough! I'm fine enough to finish this match!" With his exclamation, the dichromatic young man soon ran towards Pyrrha with every intention of ending the spar to which she responded with gunfire as she opened fire with Akoúo. Each bullet that came near him was avoided with barely any time to react as he got closer and closer to Pyrrha.

"What does that idiot think he's doing?!" the heiress cried out in shock and horror, "Get him off the stage before he gets hurt!"

"Look at their aura levels," Ren pointed out. Sure enough, Dichro was winning the Aura race at a 5 to 1 ratio with his own losing a meager 5%. "He has so much aura left that the damage he sustained should have healed up by now. Something concerning is going on with Dichro. If I had to guess, that's the reason he's getting hurt."

"That doesn't make me feel any better!" Weiss and Ruby both shouted out at the poor boy, but were interrupted from saying anything more, even as they stared at each other in shock, by Jaune as he spoke up.

"Believe me, guys... Dichro's a hard-headed person... He's not one to give up or run from a fight. The reason I'm not panicking like the rest of you is because... Well... He's done this before when we trained... I've just gotten used to it."

"Used... to... it...?" Yang growled out as she clenched her hands into fists. The sound scared the poor blond boy as he held up his hands defensively and tried to explain that he may have accidentally hurt Dichro once or twice and tried desperately to apologize to the boy but kept getting the response "No pain, no gain," each time he did. She didn't want to, but the blonde brawler had to accept his response as she continued to watch the fight with gritted teeth and worry coursing through her heart and mind as she thought, 'Please... Make it through this so you can promise all of us you won't do this again.'

Down below, Pyrrha continued to unload her ammunition against her opponent, even as several bullets grazed his arms, before deciding he was getting to close and tried to change her weapon into its javelin form; this would not happen, however, as Dichro had finally managed to close the gap as soon as she stopped firing - even as his legs threatened to buckle in on themselves - and brought his right fist into her gut in a swift and powerful jab that knocked the wind out of her lungs. Once it landed, Dichro proceeded to land numerous jabs and punches - though nowhere near as powerful as his first - in an attempt to push her further towards the edge of the stage. As Pyrrha was a single step away from the edge, the Ant Faunus quickly allowed his right leg to crumple in on itself and brought his left leg across in a sweeping motion aimed at his opponent's ankles. Even in her weakened state, the Invincible Girl noticed the sign of a sneak attack from below, and responded accordingly by jumping up and backwards in a backflip. However, once her body was turned a full one-hundred and eighty degrees on its axis was when she realized her mistake; she was leaping off of the stage and into a surprised Glynda Goodwitch.

As the younger woman's body collided with the older woman's, both women fell to the floor with a loud thunk.

A sound that was shared with a particular Ant Faunus clenching his legs and desperately clawing at and massaging them trying to get the muscles to calm down as the pain finally became too much for him to bear. Groaning and growling in pain, Dichro couldn't help but let a tear or two escape through tight-shut eyes as he lay there in agony and demeaned himself internally; ignoring the cries of shock and disbelief from the audience in the stands.

'You idiot! What's everyone going to say about you now?!' he reprimanded himself as he struggled to stop the pain in his legs before something in his immediate field of vision caught his eye, 'And HOW THA HELL IS MY HAT STILL ON MY HEAD!?'

No sooner than he finished that thought did another one come to mind as concern filled him. "Hrgh-Hey, Pyrrha!" he called out to his opponent, "Grrr... Y-You okay down there?" As the student and teacher recovered from their impromptu meet and greet, it was Goodwitch who replied with, "WE are fine, Mr. Spectrum... Though I am far more concerned about your own wellbeing." As they both got up, they saw the crumpled mess the boy had become and grew even more anxious at the sight. Goodwitch had managed to pull out her scroll and asked for medical professionals to come to the amphitheater as both Teams RWBY and JNPR; aside from Jaune, Ren and Blake, along with Quartz ran down from their seats onto the stage. The group of six had managed to reach the dichromatic young man and circled him with Yang falling to her knees and pulling him onto her lap asking what he was thinking doing something so reckless as the rest of the students began to file out of the amphitheater. His only reply was, "Heh... I wasn't really thinking at all... Sorry for making you worry like that..."

"Worry?!" the blonde brawler cried out in surprise, "You nearly scared us to death when we saw that blood! Why didn't you say something?!"

The boy sat there, grimacing in pain as he did so, for a little while before finally saying what came to his mind. "I didn't want any of you to think I was worthless on my own." His reply shocked the group even as the missing trio finally came onto the stage. Jaune was, oddly enough, the first one to speak as he knelt down next to his training buddy and said, "Worthless? C'mon, Dichro, that's my area; you're a lot better at this kinda stuff than I am."

"Besides," Pyrrha spoke next with a soft smile and said, "I haven't been able to meet anyone who could pose a challenge like you just did... You've single-handedly disproven my deserving of the title 'champion'. With someone like you still around, I can't quite call myself the strongest fighter anymore - not when I now know there's proof even I can improve right before me." The Ant Faunus could only chuckle lightly as he looked up at her, his red and blue eyes finally returning to normal, and said, "Thanks... But I've still got a ways to go myself... Plus... I've been so used to being my family's pillar back home..."

"And so you bear that weight upon your shoulders, even amongst your fellow students..." a familiar voice called out to him. The teams both looked at who it was to find the headmaster of Beacon standing there with a saddened expression on his face. Noticing the looks of unease on his students' faces, Ozpin held up a hand and spoke up, "Please understand that I, in no way, intended for this to happen. Also please know that I am neither disappointed nor disgusted with Mr. Spectrum's actions... I just wish there was a way to help him alleviate his symptoms." As he said this, most thought he meant the gaming virus Ruby had which made them grow nervous, but Blake and Ren both nodded at each other as Blake asked the professor what he meant by symptoms. His reply shocked the group as he spoke about Dichro's aura having the defect of being incapable of healing or undoing any damage that was non-lethal. At hearing this, Yang subconsciously pulled Dichro closer to her body and held him as safely as she could before asking the young man, "Why... would you hide THAT from us?"

"Like I said..." the dichromatic young man whispered as he looked away, "I didn't want you to think I was worthless..."

Nora stood up abruptly with an unusually stern look on her face as she spoke, "When you get seen by those doctors, ALL of us are going to have a LONG talk with you about trust!" With that, she stormed off the stage and out of the amphitheater just in time to help the medical personnel enter the room. As they reached him, Dichro began to feel anxiety increasing before Yang held him bridal style and told the professionals that she would be going with him to help keep him calm. They accepted the answer and helped her bring him to the infirmary.

* * *

)-That Night-(

)-Dichro's Dorm-(

* * *

Dichro had been given muscle relaxers as well as bandages for his hand and arms during his visit to the infirmary. Upon assessment of his injuries, the doctors concluded that he had given himself muscular dystrophy by overexerting his legs to move as fast as he did. This bit of news shocked all but Jaune who absently stated that he was able to boost his speed the same way but not to the extreme that Dichro could. That got everyone wondering just what kind of training he was doing; namely Yang and Blake in particular. When asked during the visit, Dichro had refused to answer them then and there; he had told them he would only tell them when he felt he was ready. Begrudgingly, they accepted his answer.

Eventually, the Ant Faunus was allowed to leave the infirmary under the condition that he do nothing more exerting than walking for the next twenty four hours, to which he eagerly agreed. By the time he had left, however, it was already night time and that meant he missed several other classes that needed to be made up. Ren had agreed to help him catch up, but was stopped when Yang told him that she and Quartz lived in the same dorm room which would make it easier on both of them in the long run; she had also mentioned that she had business to deal with alone with him which got a nod out of the Mistral boy before they finally returned to the dorm room. As they started to get ready for bed, the blonde brawler had at first tried to scold him for the way he fought; only to be told that she would have done the same thing if she could.

"Yeah, but me doing it and you doing it are two different things," she retorted, "I can handle that kind of pain and even use it to make myself stronger on the spot whereas you -"

"I can use it to make myself stronger in the long run instead." he interrupted her with a downturned expression as he pulled his crimson and blue plaid pajama pants up. Yang sighed before she spoke again as she pulled her top on over her head, "That's not the point, squirt... I know I can handle that kind of pain, but -"

"But you don't know if I can?" Dichro hazard a guess, which turned out right as she nodded her head, "Even I don't know that, and we'll never know unless I try." She couldn't help herself as her worry started to flood the bond even when she tried to sound brave as she told him she didn't want him to try - especially not like he did. She could feel his emotional pain from the bond as she immediately regretted her wording.

"That's not what I meant, Dichro..." she said as she laid her body on her bed, "I just... Don't want you getting hurt, okay?"

"I don't want you getting hurt, either," Dichro said as he too laid down on his own bed, "But things happen and we have to... Prepare for the worst and hope for the best." Yang couldn't help but nod at his words before telling him good night as she covered herself up with her bondmate doing the same. As they both started to let sleep take them, the sound of a building being torn down suddenly played in the room from the top of a dresser, irritating both of them as they shouted, "GO TO SLEEP, QUARTZ!" With that, they heard a quiet "Oops!" before all they knew was silence and finally sleep.

Inside Dichro's body, however, was a different story. Even as he slept, his body was beginning to change as a mass of virus cells began to form within him. It pulsed a light violet color a few times before finally coming to rest and awaiting the perfect time to awaken...

The time to form the Bugster Union was fast approaching, and it would not wait much longer.

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

There we go! The next chapter in the Paradox of Remnant story is now done! So as always, leave any questions you may have in the reviews and I hope you enjoyed the story so far. Until next time...

See you next game!


	27. Banned-width

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! Before we get onto the next chapter, I have some things I need to say. To start off with, I didn't think I could get this out on Christmas Day, yet here it is. Oddly satisfying. Next off, there are some things I need to try and clarify.

First off, to Raidentensho, there's almost NO correlation between the actual Bugster and its union... So it won't actually be based on a game... Also, as it stands, Dichro will NOT be the only one who has their Semblance evolve, so do not worry about that.

Demons Anarchy of Pride, I have to say that the aura thing was just a co-incidence - so curing him will not allow his aura to function normally.

Revamped Persona, remember that Dichro effectively has TWO strains of the Bugster Virus inside him.

Alright, with that done, let's get this show on the road, shall we?

Let's.

Disclaimer: You know the drill by now; I own nothing but the OCs mentioned in the story. RWBY and Kamen Rider are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Co _R_ **R** _ **U**_ pT **3** _d_ PoV-(

* * *

Data Log Entry 7

Subject: Rider Chronicles

Entry Log: Finally, after weeks of study and preparation, my gorgeous creations are finally ready to begin testing. However, I must first test their loyalties as well as their capabilities to deceive their so-called brethren. Subject HB - 003 is by far the most advanced of the three and will go very far. Once all of them have been properly calibrated, I will unleash them onto the world. For now, though, I have allowed them to wander these halls at 'Salem's' request...

Pitiful fool does not even realize the doom of her precious 'children' walks among them.

As the weeks went on until this moment, I had worked on a project I had started before coming to this world that will further enhance the data I can collect from it; the Kamen Rider Chronicles. Sadly, almost no one in this world is worthy of playing such a divine masterpiece as this... Almost... While that Dichro Spectrum character is a fitting host, he already has two viruses inside of him and using the Chronicle Gashat would only advance the countdown for the Bugsters to appear... And as far as I can surmise from the data collected by the brief encounter my Gamer Driver had with Dichro, that would spell doom for all three beings; the loss of potential test subjects is NOT something I aim to do so early in the process... However, I have noticed one of his friends is actually an ideal subject to use the Gashat...

For now, I must finish the Gashat first. Then I will concern myself with delivering it to her.

Data Log Entry 8

Subject: Release

Entry Log: "Project: Hell" is now in the final processing stages. All three beautiful creatures will be released into the world, but I still worry about Subject HB - 003. It may be just as intelligent as the one that escaped weeks ago and could very well attempt to turn on me if given the chance, but that is a risk I'm willing to take in order to ensure Project: Hell's success. The primary reason these creatures exist is very simple; to gather world data while spreading the Bugster Virus in its dormant state around the world under the guise of being super weapons for 'Salem's' use. Soon, I shall have an army at my disposal in order to keep anyone I see as a threat occupied while I continue my search for Dichro's home world.

Or as I entitle it; his home reality.

It would appear that, when looking up the young man's true identity, his physique is actually tremendously different than as he is currently. My theory is that when traveling, or transcending in this case, from one reality to another the visitor's body is altered in such a way as to match the rules of the new reality. Why this did not affect me, though, may simply be based on the fact that I am a Bugster.

More research is required.

Data Log Entry 9

Subject: Beta-Testing

Entry Log: The time is ripe for me to put my plan into action. The Chronicles Gashat is complete and "Project: Hell" is on the move. All that's missing is one Blake Belladonna...

And I know just how to reach her.

* * *

)-The Next Day -(

)-Beacon Tower Headmaster's Office-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

The headmaster was not pleased with the findings of yesterday's sparring match; instead, he was irked beyond belief. If not for his years of mental training and experience, his anger would be visible for all to behold, yet the occasional twitching of his fingers holding his cane were more than enough to signal his irate behavior. The reason for this behavior was standing across from his desk looking displeased as he crossed his arms. Ozpin sat in his chair for what felt like an eon to him before he finally voice the cause of his rather volatile mood.

"Why did you not warn me, Qrow?" he asked.

The raven reaper merely shrugged his shoulders as he gave his curt reply, "I didn't think the kid would actually go that far to beat someone."

"Someone he believed to be leagues above his own," the headmaster retorted. It was only after he had managed to talk to Dichro early that morning did he find out why he felt the need to push his body to its limits; to combat someone he felt he was ill prepared to face. The guilt of putting that kind of pressure upon the boy was outweighed by the fact that it was partly Qrow's responsibility as the young man's mentor to prevent such an oversight from happening, and he made certain that Qrow knew of this.

"Hey - now hold on, Oz," the man spoke once more as he tried to explain his side, "I didn't tell the kid he could go destroying his body like that, and I definitely told off Ruby more than my fair share of times when she tried it. This was all the kid's own fault." The headmaster contemplated his accomplice and friend's words for a brief moment before coming to a conclusion, "It would appear, then, that we are at an impasse. Perhaps stricter guidelines will help to -" His thoughts were cut mid-sentence as a soft beeping noise began to emanate from the desk he sat behind. Looking down, he could see a "Call Notification" light was on, but what struck him and Qrow as odd was that it was the notification for a secure network line normally used for the council. With a quick look to his visitor, Ozpin let out a quick "We'll discuss this later," as he pressed a few buttons that allowed a holoscreen to appear above his desk. Sadly, it was all black with the words "[Audio Only]" in green across the top with a green wavelength reader along the bottom. While he was unsettled at the fact that his caller was remaining hidden, the headmaster did not wish to be rude and so greeted the mystery caller and asked who he was talking to.

"Forgive me for the covertness of this matter, but I feel it necessary to ensure my identity isn't discovered..." the mystery person spoke with a voice that sounded synthetically high pitched. The headmaster's worry only grew as he heard this message before stating, "I'm sorry, but this is a secure connection so unless you have something very important to tell me -"

"It's important to me, Headmaster Ozpin," the voice quickly called out; almost in a panic, "I've been searching over the past weeks for my wife's savior from the cargo train incident. Please, hear me out before sentencing punishment." That was enough to earn Ozpin's attention. As he muddled over what the possible inclinations could mean, the mystery voice continued to explain their motives. "I promise I'm only looking to thank the person responsible for saving my wife; it's because of their involvement that our daughter still has a mother. However, I am unable to leave where I currently am so I wish to convey a message to them."

"But why contact me? Why not call them yourself?" the headmaster wondered aloud whereas internally he tried to piece together the situation. 'Something doesn't quite add up...'

"An easier thing to explain if not for my position... You see, I'm not currently a reputable person to deal with - a rogue hunter, I should say," the mystery person conveyed, hesitating for a brief moment before continuing, "While I'm a wanted person for... Multiple reasons... I am not completely without my own honor. I owe it to this person to reward them for doing what I could not."

'That explains a few things...' Ozpin mused as he stroked his chin in thought before asking how the caller even got a connection to the line he was using, to which the mystery person replied, "I'm afraid that's part of my Semblance... I can interact with certain wavelength frequencies in such a way that I can make calls to just about anywhere without using a scroll."

"If that was the case, then my earlier question still stands; why not call them yourself?" the headmaster inquired as he tried to pry more information out of this supposed 'rogue hunter'. "I simply do not wish to have her just turn down what I plan to give her while at the same time not give her anymore grief than what she already has," the caller answered back, "If at all possible, I was hoping you could perhaps give them a personal retrieval mission so as I can have someone send it off to them; my accomplice is more than likely in Vale City by now, awaiting for them to arrive." Ozpin considered the mystery person's words carefully, thinking of many different scenarios that could end in either Beacon missing a student or worse the student being turned against them. He had an idea on who this person was wishing to 'reward', but he needed to hear it from the horse's mouth, so to speak. With his theory in mind, he quickly pulled up the files on the incident in question and asked his caller, "And whom, pray tell, is this person you wish to thank?"

"I apologize; I thought it was obvious," the mystery voice stated, "It is Blake Belladonna."

Now he had his confirmation. He looked up all the intel on the victims involved; sure enough, one of them happened to be Isabella* Callows; ex-wife to missing wanted-man Tyrian Callows and mother to a 5 year-old daughter named Mimi*. 'Didn't honestly expect that to check out...' he thought to himself in disbelief as he looked back on the file for Tyrian Callows to try and find out if he had such a Semblance; all he could find was a big, red, fat " _NA_ " on the section as he thought, 'I guess he didn't want anyone to know his Semblance... Which means we can't track him...'

"Very well," Ozpin relented, "I will do what I can under one condition... 'Tyrian Callows,'" Qrow quirked an eyebrow up in shock as he looked on between Ozpin and the screen between them.

The voice hesitated briefly once more. When it spoke again, both of Qrow's eyebrows shot up in shock as it said, "So the cat's out of the bag, isn't it? Very well, Headmaster, what is your condition?"

"The moment that this call ends," the headmaster spoke in a low and clear voice as if he were talking to one of his most ill-behaved students, "You are to turn yourself over to the nearest authorities within the hour. If I do not hear word of your arrest, then the deal is off, Mr. Callows. Until then, I will have Blake on standby for when you do." 'Tyrian' hesitated for a third time before replying that it would be done before the call abruptly ended. Qrow, who had been watching the whole trade-by-trade, was left feeling uneasy about the situation as he asks Ozpin if he knew what he was doing, to which the headmaster replied, "Not entirely, but at least this way it will mean one less obstruction that Salem can use against us."

"Thanks for letting me know, but I also meant about Dichro," the raven reaper corrected, "The whole deal you just made is going with you to your grave for all I care, but the kid is my blood niece's bondmate; anything happens to him and Yang suffers. And if anything happens to her -"

"I understand your concerns, but without your help I cannot do anything," Ozpin shot back in a calm voice, "As I was saying, stricter guidelines will help to ensure he doesn't over-strain himself if he know the clear-cut situations of when not to use his full abilities."

"But then that leaves him thinking he's either better than anyone else or that he's too powerful for anyone to handle, which can end up turning him away from us."

The argument continued going back and forth for quite a while - even at the expense of their new visitor, Glynda. When given the information on what just happened, she had offered to have Blake brought up to the office to be told in person, to which the headmaster agreed and sent her on her way.

* * *

)-Co _R_ **R** _ **U**_ pT **3** _d_ PoV-(

* * *

Data Log Entry 9 Supplement

Entry Log: The bait has been set and it is time to deliver the packages. The callous old fool has no idea what is happening beneath his own nose. First on the list... Delivering this 'Tyrian' to the authorities...

I can say, with substantial guarantee, that they will not like what they find.

* * *

)-Beacon Mess Hall-(

* * *

Breakfast, for the most part, had been a rather normal affair for all the students present.

Unless your names were Dichro Spectrum and Pyrrha Nikos... From the way the two of them were acting; the lack of energy, feeling sore in certain parts of their body, and the overall lack of posture as they both slouched forward; many students started to believe they each went a full ten rounds with an Ursa Major. Then came the flood of rumors that the formerly Invincible Girl had been training someone in beating her or that the Ant Faunus was some alien sent to their planet to destroy their society by taking down their world's potential threats. Rumors like these and more were becoming pandemics among the different cliques of the academy and for the parties involved it was becoming a headache. Pyrrha, herself, had believed that she had heard the worst of them when she was still attending tournaments and a few publicity deals before she came to Beacon; boy, was she wrong. Dichro, on the other hand, wasn't used to this much attention; even when he first arrived. Because of this, he snapping at almost anyone who was stupid enough to get near him. Despite knowing he wouldn't do that to her, Yang decided that keeping her distance was more help to both of them than it would hurt. Nora, poor girl, kept trying to give him any spare food she could find on her own rather massive collection of pancakes which earned her fork being bitten in two due to the drowsy state he was in. The others were a bit more focused on Pyrrha due to her being on the receiving end of Dichro's beatdown; said dichromatic young man was glad that she would be okay in the long run, but felt bad about going overboard and tried to apologize when she visited for her own injuries which made her aura run dry just before she was sent over the edge of the stage.

Once everyone was together, after Jaune finally appeared at their table looking like a mess with Quartz teleporting in with a brilliant smile on her face at seeing everyone, they all began to talk about yesterday's events which lead to Pyrrha talking about Jaune and Dichro's training. While the Ant Faunus was in no mood to discuss that being busy nibbling on a slab of warm ham steak, the blond knight had managed to tell his partner about what they were doing; using the weights, the different reflex exercises Qrow had them doing, standard squats and push-ups, even a few weird ones as he put it; one of which was an exercise where they had to collect different stones scattered across the courtyard of the academy in weighted containers while skipping the whole way.

"You're serious?!" Yang asked with disbelief ever prevalent on her face as she tried to hold her laughter in, "That's nuts! You had to have looked completely ridiculous doing that!"

"It's true," Jaune retorted, "It was Dichro's idea. We literally had to skip the entire time collecting those stones and trying to be the first one back to Qrow. He even had 'fake stones' made by putting this weird image on the bottom of them. Looks like a Beowulf flipping us off..." At hearing this, Yang gave a sharp laugh in mirth. "Anyway, as goofy as the exercise sounds..."

"It's clearly working for at least one of you..." Weiss interrupted as she gave a side-glance at Jaune before returning to her meal, "You say you can do the same as Dichro yet not to the same extent... But really, we can't believe what you say until we see it ourselves."

The heiress' partner took her words to offense as she looked at the snow-haired girl and exclaimed, "How can you say that after what we saw?!" Before she could make anymore of a scene, however, Weiss quickly clasped a hand over Ruby's mouth and made a hushing sound before whispering, "I'm trying to keep my sanity in check and my personal image safe, so I HAVE to say things like that."

"That is disgusting..." Blake suddenly blurted out; catching everyone's attention at this, even Pyrrha and Dichro's. When Weiss asked her what was so wrong about keeping up a peronal image, the Cat Faunus simply shot back that it wasn't the heiress that had her so disgusted and pointed out to another table. She had been watching Cardin and his crew surrounding poor Velvet as the big oaf started to tug on her ears and taunting her about them. "I take back what I said, Blake, that IS absolutely revolting..." Weiss complained as she watched. Dichro already had his scroll out recording the scene even as Yang tried to say how people like him should be taught a lesson. Her partner began to state how prejudices like that were why she stayed in the White Fang until recently before she took notice of Dichro's scroll and asked, "Are you SERIOUSLY recording this?"

"Eee-Yup," was all she got as a reply.

After a few seconds, he typed something up on the scroll before smirking as he got up from his chair and started to lumber towards Team CRDL. Once within earshot, the dichromatic young man inhaled quickly before shouting out, "OI, KUSO YARO*! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?"

This act confused the four bullies as their attentions shifted to the Ant Faunus; his shout also drew the entire mess hall's attention as they all looked to see what was going on. Cardin took this as a challenge, once his confusion wore off, and strutted up to the much shorter opposition and asked, "What's it look like, shrimp? We're just testing to see if the animal's ears were real."

Undeterred, Dichro scoffed at the taller bully before saying, "Well it looked more to me like you were trying to commit first degree homicide." This got everyone around in a panic, even Cardin as he started to sweat who tried to ask in a brave voice what he was talking about.

During his free time, Dichro had been morbidly curious about how medicine worked in Remnant and found out it had varying degrees of differences from simple aura transfusions in place of certain surgeries to assanine methods of treating a common cold. Having read a few medical books, the Ant Faunus knew a bit more about Faunus physiology to some extent and decided to give as many details as he could. "What I mean, Cardin, is basic biology," Dichro began to elucidate the group, "Velvet's ears aren't just for show, bastard. Similar to a normal rabbit, a Rabbit Faunus' ears contain a large percentage of the body's vascular system as a method of cooling the body off while also providing sensitive hearing. If ANY of those vessels in her ears were to suddenly pop, NO amount of aura healing would save her as the physical trauma causes hematoma which is when the blood vessel continues to bleed out and collect in the affected area until it does what a balloon that's filled too much will do... Pop." As he continued to explain, Cardin glared at the diminutive fighter before giving a quick, "So?" to try and demonstrate that he held no care for what happened to a Faunus. "If and when that area pops," Dochro continued, "Then the resulting blood loss and infection will lead to her death which would be caused by YOUR hands... And do you know what Beacon does to students that kill other students, directly or otherwise?" Truthfully, he didn't know himself, but he was hoping that someone in the mess hall would. Cardin started to sweat even more as he realized what that would mean. 'Oh man - if that actually happened, then I'd be banned from joining ANY of the academies!' he shouted out in his mind. In outright denial, the bully shook his head side to side and tried to play off that he didn't know, but was soon stopped when he heard a voice behind Dichro, who was also shocked into jumping at hearing it.

"Then let me explain to you, Mr. Winchester," Glynda started as she walked up to Dichro glaring at the taller young man, "It would mean your permanent expulsion from Beacon Academy and a letter of entry denial to the other hunter academies; your career as a hunter would be put at an end before it even began." Dichro looked up at the older woman in shock at how fast she had gotten there. 'Man, talk about fast service,' he thought as he watched her work, 'How'd she get here so soon, anyway? I only just sent that video to her and Velvet's teammates,' "And before I forget, your behavior is absolutely appalling!" she continued, "Had it not been for me needing to come here to collect another student, I would not be having this discussion with you here."

'That explains that... Ol' Dumbledore wants a word with me again...'

"However, THAT matter can wait just a tad longer," Glynda stated, "YOU four are to report directly to the headmaster's office immediately. I'll have one of the other professors escort you there so wait outside the mess hall until they arrive."

Team CRDL couldn't believe their luck; they couldn't comprehend just how Goodwitch had gotten word of their actions so quickly as they left for the door to the Mess Hall even as she called out that they would be serving a three month detention along with losing field trip privileges on top of whatever punishment the headmaster could come up with. As they exited the hall, Glynda turned to Velvet with a sorrowful glance as she said, "I am so sorry you had to put up with that, Ms. Scarlettina. Had I been here sooner -"

"It's okay..." the poor girl interrupted, white as a sheet from hearing what could have happened to her, "I'm just glad Dichro came and stopped it in time,"

"Oh he did more than that, Velv..." Coco called out as she walked up to her and held up her scroll with a video clip of the Rabbit Faunus being picked on, "He sent THIS to me, Fox, Yatsu, and I would assume every professor on his contact list. That sound about right, professor?" Trying to prove her words, Glynda opened up her scroll to find an unread message was on there. Upon opening it; sure enough, there was the video clip. She could only nod in affirmation at this.

"If you ask me, I'd swear up and down this kid was your guardian angel if not for his you-know-what with Yang," the fashionista whispered into Velvet's ear, prompting said bunny girl to blush lightly as she nodded. "And you have my utmost respect for such vigilance, Mr. Spectrum," Glynda finally said as she turned to the dichromatic young man, "You did the right thing notifying us." Dichro could only nod as he thanked her before asking if the headmaster wanted to see him again so soon. Glynda shook her head as she said, "Thankfully, no, but he will want to once he hears about this. I'm actually here for someone else..."

"Uh huh... If you don't mind me asking... Who is it you were sent to retrieve?" he asked her in genuine curiosity. The professor's answer had him more baffled after she gave it to him.

"Ms. Blake Belladonna is needed in the headmaster's office."

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

And THAT'S how to get away with Bully snitching, kids!

If you can't tell, I actually did have to do a little bit of research for this part, so I hope I did okay. Anyway, let us hope that things go well for Blake on her soon-to-be trip to Vale! Happy Holidays, everyone, and until next time...

See you next game!

*Kuso Yaro = Something you should NOT repeat to your mothers...

*Isabella and Mimi are both color names. Isabelline or Isabella is a pale grey-yellow while Mimi is a light shade of pink.


	28. The Chronicle Begins

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls and Happy Late New Year! 2018 has finally arrived, and with it a glimmer of hope that it won't be NEARLY as bad as what 2017 was...

And what better way to start off the new year than to bring up a brand new chapter of the Paradox of Remnant?! Speaking of which, I am SO sorry this came out so late, but I REALLY needed that break; it's helped me to get my thoughts straightened out. Not only that, but lately, I've started developing something bad that I hope none of you are really dealing with...

Anyway, thank you all for the birthday wishes and for understanding that I really did need a break. And now, onto the story!

Disclaimer: I only own the OCs mentioned in the story. RWBY and Kamen Rider are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Moments Later-(

)-Headmaster's Office, Beacon Tower-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

As the headmaster sat in equanimity, awaiting from whatever authorities would announce the arrival of Tyrian Callows, he began to ponder on the events that transpired up to that point; namely on the conversation he had with Qrow about Dichro's progress as well as the interruption that had occurred. Their back-and-forth had eventually come to a head as they both begrudgingly decided that the dichromatic young would no longer receive tutelage and instead be allowed the time to study or train in his own spare time. Qrow tried adamantly to defend the need to train the kid, but agreed that it would be pointless if Dichro already had a regimen worked out not only for himself but for Jaune as well. 'I have to be honest with myself,' Ozpin reluctantly criticized, 'his progress has been leaps and bounds better than any student I've ever come across; and Mr. Arc is not too far behind. Though given his heritage, it only makes sense - afterall, it was the Warrior King, Grullo Arc, who ended the Great War on the Isle of Vytal...' Taking a sip of his coffee, his thoughts soon drifted back to his alien friend. 'Still, Dichro's potential... It's honestly horrifying. If he can push himself that far in only a month, there's no telling just how far he'll go - and let's not forget that device of his...'

Letting out a long, slow sigh, the headmaster turned his chair to the side as he looked out the window overlooking the academy in its entirety. He stared out into the structures that made up Beacon for what felt like mere moments to him as he continued to comprehend what would happen to this world until he heard a beeping noise go off on his desk. Turning back to it, he noticed it was a message from an Atlesean branch of authorities and rather quickly answered it with the push of a button and said, "This is Ozpin speaking."

The officer's face, a man in his mid 30's with auburn hair, appeared on a holo screen as the man spoke, "Headmaster Ozpin, we um... We received a body today..." This shocked the headmaster enough to quirk an eyebrow as he tried to ask different questions such as who the body belonged to and who delivered it; he was expecting Tyrian to be alive when he turned himself in, not dead. "Well, that's the thing..." the officer started to explain, "We don't know who sent the body, but we can confirm that the man was Tyrian Callows. Our forensics have been able to match his finger prints, but they also confirmed that the body was dead for over a month." Ozpin's eyebrows attempted to do an impersonation of Houdini as they both tried to shoot up into his hair. 'How can that be?' the headmaster wondered, 'I just spoke with him not even an hour ago... Unless it wasn't really Tyrian to begin with...' He started to take another sip of his coffee before looking down at it in slight disgust and setting it down as he asked the officer what the cause of death was. "Judging from the burnmarks on the hole in his chest, we assume a lightning bolt got him by shere dumb luck," was the officer's reply. Ozpin's mind worked into overtime as it tried to piece together the puzzle of how and why this person claiming to be Tyrian would impersonate him, yet sadly nothing came to mind. The only thing he could do was to risk Blake's life and try to gain whatever it was this person wanted to give to Blake, but he would not do so without her co-operation. 'Poor girl has been through enough trouble as it is,' he conceded as he turned his attention back to the call. "Was there anything else that was found?" he questioned the officer. It was then he found out that a note had been found on the body's head that read " _I have done as you asked, Ozpin._ "

'So that's how they knew to contact me...' the headmaster mused before saying, "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. See to the body as you will." With a quick thank you and good bye, the officer ended the call just in time for Oobleck to walk out of the elevator with Team CRDL right behind him. Before he could ask, the professor explained that Cardin Winchester was responsible for bullying Velvet by tugging on her Faunus ears while the other three merely watched, even showing the video he was sent by Dichro. When asked why this was an issue, Oobleck gave a similar explanation of what would happen should her vascular system within them be ruptured in any position. Nodding in understanding, he turned his attention to the four young men and spoke calmly yet with authority, "What the four of you have done is inexcusable. Especially you, Mr. Winchester -"

"C'mon, ya gotta believe me when I say I didn't know any better!" Cardin tried to weasel his way out as began to panic, "Is there any way for us to stay here?"

"For your teammates, Mr. Winchester, it was never a question of whether they would stay," Ozpin stated as he narrowed his eyes slightly, "It was more of a matter of ensuring they do not make the same mistake again. But for you, young man... Your ability to remain and study in Beacon is, in fact, in danger... Normally, I am a forgiving headmaster, but this is one of those times I am not so easily forgiving." The other members of CRDL sighed in relief until the headmaster rounded on them, "Your punishments will be dealt with shortly. However, I must pass my judgement onto your 'leader'... Or should I correct myself and say 'ex-leader'?" This caught the team's attention as Cardin started to panic quite fiercely before Ozpin spoke once more. "Cardin Winchester, as of this moment you will no longer be a student of Beacon and will not be allowed to enter the premises. I believe Atlas will do well for your... Behavior..." With that, Cardin tried desperately to plead and beg the headmaster a second chance, to which he was flat out told "No," before being explained that his things will be waiting for him at the Bullhead Port. Once he finished explaining, Ozpin's attention turned to the soon-to-be remaining members of Team CRDL and offered them a chance to remain with their so-called leader if they so wished on the condition that they too would be expelled from Beacon, or continue their studies there and be given a month of detentions with a strict six month probation.

Unfortunately for Cardin, they chose the latter.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Beacon Tower, Reception-(

* * *

Accompanied by Glynda, Blake had managed to find herself just outside the elevator to the headmaster's office with nothing but concern on her face. When she asked why the headmaster wanted to see her back in the mess hall, the professor could only say that it was because of what she had done prior to coming to Beacon. Noticing the girl's initial anxiety towards that event, Goodwitch had explained to her that she was not in trouble, but that she would have to arrive at the office to find out anything more as she didn't understand it herself.

"... And Ozpin explained the situation to me; that would be the worst part." were her exact words; meaning she was still as confused as Blake even after hearing what the headmaster had to say. This did nothing for the Cat Faunus' presumptions.

Once the elevator finally arrived, she noticed a glaring Cardin walking out of the shaft with the rest of his team, each with a cross between relief and nervousness on their expressions, and Oobleck close behind them. She briefly wondered what they had went through but it was momentarily forgotten as she was called into the elevator by Goodwitch. On the way up, her mind once more pondered on why she was being called now, of all times, for that failed cargo train hijacking. Almost immediately, she dismissed the idea that someone wanted to repay her 'kindness' as she was one of the two parties responsible for the attack in the first place. 'Besides, I was a part of the White Fang and I'm a Faunus,' she mused in her mind, 'With bigotry being as prevalent as it is, who would be willing to try and reward a 'criminal'?' She then thought back to that fateful day; the day the Kamakiri attacked and gave her that scar. If it hadn't been for some kind soul that was on the train at the time, she had believed she would have bled to death even with her aura. 'It would be completely dumb luck if that person was the one responsible for today...' she thought bitterly as she looked at the doors to see them opening. As she and Glynda walked into the office, Blake could see the headmaster sitting at his desk with his eyes closed and his hands interlocked with his chin resting upon them; it was clear that he was deep in thought about something, even as he greeted them.

"I'll make this as brief as I can, Ms. Belladona..." he said as his expression saddened considerably, "You've been called up here today because of... an anomaly."

"An anomaly, professor?" the Cat Faunus repeated as she looked at him incredulously. Ozpin only nodded briefly before he explained, "Yes, involving the failed Cargo Train heist you were involved in. In short, I received a call from some anonymous person earlier today trying to get ahold of you in order to have a contact of theirs give you a gift in return for what you did for them..." And so he proceeded to debrief Blake with the details of the encounter as well as the subsequent call from an Atlesean police force member reporting the body of the person he had believed made the call. Once he was finished, the young woman could only stare at him in disbelief and confusion before an idea struck her.

"So... You want me to retrieve whatever it was they wanted me to have...?" she started to ask when the headmaster interrupted her by saying, "In order to identify and prevent any threats to the school, yes." In a quick moment, Ozpin took a sip of his coffee and grimaced slightly at the now chilled drink before glancing back at her. "I understand that this is a lot to ask for, let alone risk, considering this may be an attack on you-"

"I'll do it," Blake responded without hesitation, "I understand what's at risk here. Someone wants me, specifically, for an unknown reason and simply ignoring it will cause the issue to escalate. I won't lie and say I don't deserve what's being asked of me, but I cannot put my friends at risk. If there is a way to end it before it begins, then... As Dichro and Yang would put it... The cat is coming out of the bag." With a small smirk, he gave her a nod of affirmation before his expression went blank once more. "You do realize, Blake, that legally you cannot do this alone?" he asked her, to which she nodded, "Then as per your probation ordinance, you will need to bring either Ruby or Weiss with you as Yang cannot be away from Dichro due to their soulbond and Dichro's current recovering condition."

"I understand, professor..." the Cat Faunus said solemnly with a bow of her head, "Anything to help right the wrongs not only I have committed, but the rest of the White Fang as well." Lifting her head back up to look the headmaster in the eyes as her own filled with determination, she stated, "I want to bring justice to those that have been wronged."

Smiling sadly, Ozpin couldn't help but admire her attitude towards an entire community that potentially hates her just for what she is and what she was a part of. 'There may be hope for a peaceful resolution to one side of this war yet...' he mused as he nodded before telling her where she would need to start her search as well as to gather her chosen partner for this expedition. With that, the Cat Faunus agreed and started her way to the elevator until she heard him call out, "Ms. Belladonna, I do recommend taking your time with this mission; you and your teammate will have all day to find the objective and will be excused from your classes until you return." With one final nod, she stepped onto the lift and allowed it to take her back down to ground level.

* * *

)-That Evening-(

)-Vale City Commercial District-(

* * *

"Are you sure about this whole thing, Blake?"

As said Cat Faunus contemplated her companion's words, Blake couldn't truthfully admit that she understood the heiress' question completely. If she was referring to their current situation, then of course she was sure; there was a potential threat to her newfound friends and she was not going to let that go easily - even ready to lay down her life at the drop of a hat for them. If she meant the situation as a whole, however, Blake believed that she, herself, wasn't absolute on her resolve to see everything through; to her, everything started to become even more convoluted than she had anticepated them becoming. Regardless, she would follow her friends to the end of it all - even Dichro, as odd as he may be to her. It had taken next to an hour of convincing, but she had managed to convince Weiss into joining her on her newfound mission into Vale City. Knowing that they would not know where to begin searching upon arrival, the heiress suggested to try and start at the most bustling district the city had to offer and work outwards from there. In that time, they had already looked around every curve and into every window they had passed to see if someone was watching - waiting - for their arrival. They continued their search even when the sun began to set trying to find any clue of this mystery person's location. With a hefty sigh, Blake replied that she wasn't sure what she meant.

"What do you mean 'What I mean?' I'm talking about what's been going on with Dichro and this whole 'Kamen Rider' business!" Weiss cried out irately. At hearing this, Blake's eyes widened in dawning realization. 'Of course Weiss is still upset about that...' she mused as she looked into another window to see an arcade full of games of different eras of their time, 'She's had to deal with so much shadow-play coming from her father that of course she's concerned about Dichro - I am, too, all things considered. He's hidden not only his training, but the Bugster Virus as well; there's no telling what else he's hiding.' As she started to walk away, another thought struck her, 'But at the same time, he's done nothing but help us... Even when we didn't ask. He didn't even know anything about the different cultures of Remnant, or... well... just about anything, really, and yet... He acts like he knows about things that shouldn't be known...'

With her thoughts collected, Blake finally unleashed her reply in a calm voice, "As much as I hate to admit it, but helping him means keeping everyone I care about safe -"

"Safe!? The kid is a danger to himself and others - even worse than Ruby!" Weiss argued intently, "Not only that, but he's also single handedly responsible for the single most insane conspiracy propaganda that has ever been devised AND has hidden so many things from us! How can you TRUST him?!"

"He's only tried to help us even at the risk of his own life," the raven-haired girl retorted, "So what if he has secrets; we ALL do. It's the way he responds to them being discovered that determines whether or not I trust him."

"That's just it - he hardly reacts at all!" the heiress continued her tirade, "The only person who seems to know anywhere near as much as him is Yang, and even she's left in the dark from the looks of things -"

"That's because she's his bondmate - from a golden bond, mind you - of course he's not going to keep too many things from her... Curio Cart?" As they continued to walk, Blake sees that they wondered upon a rather peculiar alleyway where the only thing blocking what was supposed to be a clear shot to the other side of the buildings was a small bronze colored caravan-styled cart with a dark jade colored roof decorated with ornate designs that ran along the edges of the cart, a small window with an equally small golden sunroof over it, and a door big enough for both girls to walk through side-by-side with a wooden plaque with " _Curio Cart_ " written in gold cursive writing.

The heiress tried to ask "Her what?" but stopped as she looked in the direction her teammate was and went wide-eyed in shock with an eyebrow arched in confusion. "What in the name of Oum? How'd THAT get there?" she asked aloud as she motioned to the cart. Blake walked past her slowly as she told her that it didn't matter; only that this was the out of the ordinary that they were looking for. She proceeded to walk up to the cart and knocked on the door a few times before calling out to anyone that was in there. The heiress mentioned that it was clear no one was there and that they should leave, but Blake shook her head and said, "No, we need to stay here and try to find who owns this thing... They may have something extremely dangerous in there and it's our job to confiscate it -"

"CUSTOMERS!" they heard an elderly voice cry out behind them, causing both of them to jump in shock and fright.

As they looked back, they see a rather peculiar cause for their surprise; an elderly man who looked more like he was all bone and no meat hunched over, wearing a set of monk-like robes with the hood over his head yet doing nothing to cover his wrinkled, smiling face, and carrying several bags full of groceries. The old man's black eyes alit with joy as he practically skipped over to them, showing that he was barely Weiss' height, and said, "Finally! It's been so long since I had customers come to me without me bribing them!"

The girls looked at each other for a moment in confusion before turning back to the old man as Weiss asked, "You 'bribed' your customers? How does THAT work?"

"Oh it doesn't matter, any who; all that matters is you're here! Lemme open the door and put my things inside and I'll show you around!" Once more, the old man practically skipped towards the cart and set the bags on the ground before pulling out a set of keys and picking one seemingly at random and using it to unlock the door. Once open, the old man hopped backwards and kicked his heels together shouting "Yeah-hoo!" as he did so. Upon entering the cart, the girls looked around and noticed the interior was similar to a stereotypical Mistral restaurant to them; namely a few dragon-shaped moldings along the areas the floor connected to the walls, a few ornaments with strange symbols dangling from the ceiling, and some pictures of what they thought were people in kimonos. Scattered around the cart was all manner of knickknacks from small statues to board games and even scrolls, posters, coins, and jewelry abound; each depicting different shapes and figures and symbols on them. The girls couldn't believe how much stuff the old man had packed into this rather small traveling vehicle. Distracted as they looked around and inspected each of the items that had small stickers as price-tags on them, the elderly man went to the back of the cart and opened up a storage closet which had a fridge on the side of it to put his groceries in. Once he was done, he soon walked over to Blake with her back turned and asked very excitedly if she found anything she liked. The way he asked spooked her into dropping the coin she had, only for the old man to kick the coin before it hit the floor; causing it to fly over his head and into his waiting hand near his lower back. When it landed, he simply placed the coin back onto its perch with a soft smile.

Initially amazed at his reaction time, Blake merely shook her head and told him, "I'm sorry... We're actually looking for something specific..."

"Oh? Like what?" the man asked curiously. The Cat Faunus couldn't figure out how to put it in a way he would understand initially, and so decided to be blunt about it. "Well... We're looking for something... Special..." she explained. At this, the man's joy became apparent once again as he clapped his hands together and exclaimed, "Ah HA! I KNEW you were here for something! You're here for things with power!" At this, both girls' faces became skeptical as they thought he had either lost his marbles or revealed how he bribes his customers...

He motions to the coin Blake had dropped and told her, "This is the Coin of Ciel Khan, an artifact imbued with pure good luck to the owner. With this, nothing will go against you." At her negative head shake, he quickly skipped to a medallion on a red string and motioned to it. "This is the Makan*! Wearing this will make you completely incapable of being moved by any outside force!" he said as he put it on and stood tall with his fists on his hips. "Go ahead and try to push me," he offered. Both girls hesitantly gave negative responses with the heiress claiming that it would hurt her image if she suddenly pushed an old man who asked to push him. "Suite yourself," he said, as he took the medallion off and started for the next item on his list when Blake interrupted him and said, "I'm sorry, but we're not here for trinkets..." This caused the man to pause mid-step as he turned to her in shock. Asking for her name, the raven haired girl told him and watched as he smiled again and quickly dug into one of his counters before shouting, "Ah-HA! Found it!"

He pulled out a jade statue roughly bigger than his head and set it on the counter space he cleared out for it. The statue itself was strange as it depicted a man with wild, spiky hair wearing what looked like a trench coat holding a strange rectangular shape in his hands up the sky as if he had just achieved a legendary feat of strength and standing on a small hill in a heroic pose. The base of the statue itself, while not tall, was most certainly wide. The man then turned to the girl and explained, "This is the last statue of the great Chronus - a man who had earned the power to defy Oum himself! Legend tells that any who discover the secret of the statue will be able to unlock the path to earn those same powers he once had." Blake walked closer to the statue to inspect it as he continued his story, "This was given to me by a friend of mine who told me to give it to someone I deemed worthy... And you, Blake Belladonna, are worthy." With that, he quickly picked up the statue and put it into her hands. The action and the sudden weight of the figure jolted the Cat Faunus out of her shock as she tried to ask why he was giving this to her before he said, "Of course, you'll only get that if you make an 800 lien or larger purchase..." as he grinned mischievously.

'Now we know how he bribed his customers...' were the collective thoughts of the Beacon students as they looked at the old man exasperatedly before browsing the cart for anything they could find to tally up the sale so they could leave with the statue. Before they left, however, Blake had tried to ask the man for his name. He gave her a simple word that would confuse her for the rest of the day on its meaning.

He grinned at her almost maliciously as he simply said, "Kage..."

* * *

)-That Night-(

)-Beacon Tower, Headmaster's Office-(

* * *

Ozpin casually walked out of the elevator and around his desk before sitting on his chair and taking a sip of his coffee in hand. After savoring the taste for a bit, he let out a rather hefty sigh as he said, "That poor boy is a walking trouble magnet..."

Earlier, the headmaster had paid Dichro and Yang a visit to both congratulate the Ant Faunus on his actions against a bully to aid his fellow student and to receive an oral report on his virus' progression to which the young man gave him a concerning answer; "I'm afraid the virus is almost ready to come out... I don't know exactly when or how it will, but it's very soon..." he said to the headmaster solemnly. That was more than enough evidence that the boy was concerned for everyone's safety and that he would need to be put down if no one else was able to use the GGD to cure him. Ozpin was now more on edge about the boy than he was before; if his virus were to turn up now, all would be lost.

"There has to be some way to help alleviate that burden off him..." the headmaster mused aloud as he tapped his finger against his cane. Just as he was about to start on some end of the day routine, the elevator doors opened up to reveal Blake Belladonna holding a large jade statue along while wearing what appeared to be a navy blue bow tie atop her head tucked just behind her cat ears, a silver and red bracelet on her left wrist, a gold earring with a single green crystal sphere on her right human ear, and her hair braided into a long ponytail with a gold medallion at the end of it. Her face was blushing in embarrassment for some reason or another that escaped the headmaster's thoughts until she spoke up.

"Professor, I'm sorry for being late," she apologized as she walked briskly to the desk and laid the statue on it before continuing, "but Ruby insisted I try a 'new look' out before I came here... This is embarrassing..."

"I'm just glad you're still in one piece, Ms. Belladonna," Ozpin admitted as he carefully inspected the statue from afar before picking it up, "I take it this is what your venture has garnered?"

"I'm afraid so..." Blake stated sadly with her head held low as if she had failed, "Some old man in a cart gave it to me after saying a friend of his wanted me to have it..."

"Then you've succeeded?" the headmaster questioned her. She could only shrug and tell that they could not get any information out of him as he had forced their hand into purchasing his stock before they could leave with the statue. Upon lifting it, Ozpin was able to tell something was off about the statue. 'That's odd...' he mused to himself, 'The statue is quite large but for some reason it's quite lighter than it should be...' Sure enough, he gave the statue a light shake and could feel something rattle inside it. Looking under the base, however, yielded no results as it was completely smooth; so he was left with one last choice...

Standing up from his chair, he lifted the statue above his head and threw it with all his might onto the floor in front of his desk. The action startled the Cat Faunus as she quickly jumped away in shock at what he just did. The statue shattered as it connected to the floor; sending shards of jade several inches and feet away from the impact zone. Upon closer inspection, however, they both noticed something odd was poking out from the debris; a black handle-like shape with a neon green hand guard on the left side and a neon green button on the right with what appeared to be a transparent rectangular panel on top with white paint on it in a strange, blocky design. The actual object also held a label on it as if it were a game cartridge, just like the GGD. In fact, the label even had the initials "GD" on the top left hand side. The image on the label was of seven black silhouettes each with a different colored outline to them; all except the one in the front which had three horns jutting from the forehead in the shape of a crown, and what appeared to be a controller pattern on the chest. The eyes, however, were the most disturbing aspect of the silhouette for they had multiple rings going from the outside of the eye to where the pupil would be. Atop the silhouettes' heads were silver words in golden outlines.

" _Kamen Rider Chronicle_ "

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

Oh dear... Looks like we're just now hitting some rocky points in the story...

What will become of Dichro and the others now that the Chronicle Gashat has made its appearance? We'll find out soon enough, but until then I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! Until next time...

See you next game!

*I got that from Piccolo's Makankōsappō, but when I translated it, I got... lol... I got "Magic Weight" so I just went with it. XD


	29. Forever Falling

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! Welcome back to the story, and thank you all for the support. Let's start off things by addressing some of the newer reviews.

Raidentensho, thanks for putting that image into my head (no seriously, it was bugging the crap out of me where I had gotten the idea from in the first place. XD). You're also not that far off on when the first Union appears, but sadly Dichro will be absent for this one... Also, remember that he has two viruses inside him, not just one.

Demons Anarchy of Pride, you say that, but it's not going to be Dichro who turns into Chronus. XD

And finally, THEDestendGem... I think we've all wondered that at one point in our lives.

So now let's get on with the story!

Disclaimer: Kamen Rider and RWBY are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Earlier-(

)-Dichro's Dorm-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

I listened to the sound of distant running water as I sat with my legs crossed, hands on my knees, and my eyes closed as I slowly breathed in and then out; allowing the air to expunge my stress and be able to finally calm myself to a considerable degree as I began thinking of my mantra.

'Calm yourself... Find your center... Let your mind and body be one...'

I have always repeated this mantra to myself in my head every time I meditate. Why? Because it's how I was taught. My coach during my time working on kickboxing had always told me a clear mind is the key to success. Because of this, he had given me an old meditation cassette to use whenever I needed to meditate until I could do it on the fly.

... Needless to say, he got pissed when he found out cassettes were a few decades outdated...

So instead, he pirated a copy onto a disk... I don't condone piracy, kids.

Back on topic, I had used it every time to meditate for... about a month... That was how long it took for me to be able to meditate on my own. Since I got to Remnant, it's been invaluable as I've been meditating nearly every night and morning as a way of keeping myself calm; and calmness was the enemy of the virus inside of me.

Sadly... This was one of THOSE nights...

"DAMNIT, YOU MADE ME GET SOAP IN MY EYE!" I could hear Yang shout from inside the bathroom. As I hear this, I sigh heavily in defeat and apologize to her while still trying to keep up my meditation. Unfortunately, no matter how much I try to explain the situation, she still swears up and down that she feels that 'vortex' of hers every time I meditate and that it's driving her nuts...

The sounds of the water stop abruptly with nothing save for a few drops here and there before I hear the door to the bathroom open along with wet footsteps. Has that girl never heard of bathroom slippers or something? Seriously, how hard is it to not notice the flip-flops I put in there specifically for her to use in situations like this?

I listened as she walked to what I could only assume was the dresser between our beds and opened it. The sound of ruffling clothing was heard, despite my attempt at blocking the sound out, until I could hear her voice once again, "Dichro, I'm just as concerned as you are, but this is not the time to just sit there and make me go nuts -"

"As hard as it may seem for you to believe, me just 'sitting here' is what's keeping me from turning into a vicious monstrosity ready to destroy all of mankind," I retorted a little bit colder than I should as I felt Yang's guilt build up inside. I felt her lay a hand on my shoulder for a moment as she said, "Dude, I don't think you have a mean bone in your body..."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it..." was all I said before I could hear her give a sigh in defeat as she, reluctantly from what I could tell, agreed with me. I could hear her walking away from the dresser, but I couldn't tell where she was heading. That was when I heard a knock at the door as well as her asking whoever it was to come in. The sounds of one door opening and the other closing caught me off guard as I finally opened my eyes up to see, lo and behold, ol' Dumbledore of Remnant again. Ozpin nodded at me as he walked inside and closed the door behind him while I got out of my seating position as I laid back on the bed. "Hey, boss," I greeted him as I gave him a quick two finger salute. I could hear him chuckle as he asked me how I was doing after earlier today. Unfortunately, I had to give him a straight answer...

"I'm worried..."

I could tell he could understand the implications of this as he replied with, "As we all are, Dichro..." I watched as he walked over and sat on Yang's bed before saying, "Before we speak more on that, however, I wish to personally congratulate you on your efforts in stopping a prejudice against Ms. Scarlatina." That got me to smile a bit as I thought back to earlier that day. So glad I did it, honestly. After I thanked him, Ozzie decided to ask if I knew anything on the condition of my own virus. 'So he's here for that, huh?' I asked myself as I sat upright and turned to him before saying, "The virus hasn't seemed to progress, but, because it can hibernate for years at a time without activating, I have no idea if it has. However, just after Blake left for your office, I felt a small pulse of pain rush through my entire body." He motioned for me to continue, and so I did. "I excused myself and came all the way here for a quick meditation exercise to try and keep myself calm; not only that, but I also wanted to feel out the situation with the virus. If my guess is right, then I'm afraid the virus is almost ready to come out..." He asked me how much time we had until it appeared, to which I replied, "I don't know exactly when or how it will, but it's very soon... That's all I can guarantee at this point..." He sighed sadly and thanked me for the warning before he stood up and left the room.

Around that time was when the bathroom door opened, revealing Yang with a towel around her hair walking out as she asked, "You really think it'll be coming soon?" I could only nod as I turned away from her and laid on my side with my back facing her. I didn't need to feel her concern through the bond to know that she had it in her voice. I simply told her that it would still be some time before it appeared; that it wouldn't be the next day, hopefully. I could tell she could see through the lie, but she seemed to accept it nonetheless because it gave her the same thing it gave me saying it...

It gave some form of comfort.

As I start to drift into unconsciousness, thoughts of what would happen if the Union of my virus was to form began to pervade my mind and I became even more concerned... Scared, even... 'This isn't some TV show or video game,' I thought to myself, 'This is real... And I'm... I'm responsible for everyone here... If I fall..'

I couldn't finish my thoughts as I felt the bed shift before a pair of strong, yet slender arms wrapped themselves around me in a secure hug. "Dichro..." I heard Yang call out to me, "I'm scared, too, but believe me when I say things have a way of working out. I mean look at what happened at Initiation. If it hadn't been for you being in the Emerald Forest, I might have lost not only my sister but my entire team and my friends... I never would have met you and found out that me having a soulbond was possible. I know things are getting complicated, but part of what makes it okay is the fact that even if I'm bound to you, I'm still able to be 'punny' ol' me." She chuckles at her own joke, which brought a smile to my own face as I agree with her. "Besides," she continued, "I know that we have at least one way of fighting back... Isn't that right, Quartz?"

When we heard nothing, she called for the Bugster again. Instead, we get the loudest snore to have ever been heard. "Way to ruin the mood, Quartz..." I muttered to myself, but not enough that Yang wouldn't hear as she hugged tighter and laughed. "I guess we were being a bit of a 'Snooze'fest." I felt her bare chest against my clothed back as I sighed and agreed before suggesting we take my partner's example and get some sleep ourselves. I actually expected her to simply let go and move off the bed... Guess that's what I get for having expectations...

Instead, she lifts a hand up and snaps her fingers hard and loud; allowing the sound-sensitive lights to turn off before started to cuddle into me further...

'Whelp,' I thought to myself with a smile as I closed my eyes, 'I guess a perk to being so short is... I'll always be her teddy.'

* * *

)-The Next Day-(

)-Forever Fall Forest-(

* * *

"Man... I didn't get the chance to see this place when I first came here, but it's beautiful..." I muttered to myself as I looked around at the ruby red leaves of the trees and grass of the forest, taken in awe at the sight of it against the morning sky. I didn't really bother trying to hide my wonder, as did none of the other students, before our escort, Goodwitch, interrupted our thoughts by saying, "Yes, students, the Forever Fall Forest is, indeed, beautiful; but we are not here to sight see..." I looked back to make sure Jaune was still at least trying to keep up whilst paying attention. Unfortunately, he bumped into Yatsu's back who then turned around abruptly and almost caught the cases and jars in the blond's arms; almost because Jaune had hopped back in time to avoid the gentle giant's hand muttering something I couldn't quite catch. I could hear Quartz and Pyrrha giggle nearby before turning my attention back to our speaker.

"Professor Peach has asked a favor on this field trip; each of you, except for the members of Team SYAN, are to collect a jar, each, of Red Tree Sap from the trees in this forest," she instructed us as we walked, "And my job, as well as Team SYAN's, is to make sure none of you die in the process." This caught the attention of a few students as they turned towards the professor in what I assume was rapt attention. She turned back to us as she continued to explain, "Due to the events of the past month, Grimm activity here has been at an all time high which resulted in the formation of a temporary search-and-destroy team. As such, their survival depends on your efforts and how swiftly you can gather the sap. The quicker we complete our task, the sooner we can all leave in one piece." Most of the students nodded at this, which caused Glynda to call myself, Yang, Coco, and Nora to follow her in order to form a perimeter. After walking far enough away that she deemed appropriate, she told us to stop as she turned to us and said, "We should be far enough that no one can see you, Dichro."

I nodded as I turned to Yang and Nora, the latter of whom was smiling as she voiced her agreement, but I soon heard Coco ask why that mattered since everyone has seen me fight. "Because there is a secret that Mr. Spectrum possesses which requires your full confidentiality, Ms. Adel," Glynda explained as she turned to me and nodded. I nodded in return as I dug into my jacket for the GGD and pulled it out before turning the dial to its Perfect Puzzle position; causing it to trigger its confirmation sounds.

" **PERFECT PUZZLE! What's the next stage?** "

I saw the look of confusion as Coco stared at the game screen behind me as well as the Power-ups that filled the immediate area. Before she could ask or say anything, I called out "Henshin!" as I pressed the button on the device; starting up the henshin sequence.

" **DUAL UP! GET THE GLORY IN THE CHAIN! PERFECT PUZZLE!"**

As the armor screen passed over me, I could feel myself stretching once more to Para-DX's full height as the armor covered me. When it was finished, I looked towards Coco only to see her confusion replaced with her eyes and mouth wide open and her shades completely off-kilter as if they were about to fall off one side. Walking up to her slowly, I brought my hand up in front of her and waved it to try and get her attention before she shook her head. Meanwhile, Goodwitch was trying to explain the situation. "As you can see, Ms. Adel," she began to clarify, "Young Dichro, here, holds an incredible device called 'the Gashat Gear Dual' or 'GGD' for short. It allows him to assume the current form you now see before you."

"Ohhh..." was all Coco said as realization dawned on her face but it soon returned to being neutral as she adjusted her shades and walked up to my now taller form. Once she got within reach, she popped my chest with the back of her hand and said, "I get that you had to hide your secret and all, but we REALLY need to work on your self-esteem..."

I could only look at her in confusion and ask what she meant by that when Glynda offered up, "She is correct, Mr. Spectrum... You do underestimate and even undermine yourself at times." I sighed as I nodded before she turned back to Coco and said, "With the device, Dichro can assume one of two forms. This particular form is Para-DX..."

"Puzzle Gamer Form, Level..." I started to finish for her, but then noticed I was level 50 with only three Power-up chain slots. "Fifty... Ah, crapbaskets - Quartz is too nearby! The Armor is in Debug Mode!"

This caught the rest of the group's attention as Nora exclaimed that it shouldn't have to be so far away for it to not trigger while Yang suggested that she'd have Quartz and Ruby go out a bit further so I could return to normal. The only one still at a loss was Coco as she looked even more confused than before. She eventually gave in and asked why Quartz being so close was so bad when we heard something in the distance; the sound of a moaning roar, if I had to guess. I turned to the source's direction as I said, "Talk later... Right now, we have a job to do."

"Mr. Spectrum is quite right; we need to move out now," Goodwitch agreed. I quickly flicked my hand towards me which caused one of the medals to fly into my body and shatter upon contact.

" **SPEEDING UP!** "

With that, I soon ran in the direction of the sounds and noticed that I was now out of Debug Mode; my level was back to being 21 and my four slots were available, but my speed boost now had its timer back. "I'll deal with that, somehow," I said to myself as I continued to run. However, my distraction caused me to trip over something... And straight through a tree or two...

I barely had any time to react as I had rolled out of the way of a pair of fireballs aimed at me. As soon as I had recovered from that, something large slammed into my back and sent me flying several feet away. 'What in the hell is going on?!' I asked myself as I tried to stand up before crying out in pain as I felt a heavy weight slam me into the ground before wrapping itself around my arms and chest. All of a sudden, I find myself being flung almost a mile into the air where I finally catch a glimpse of whatever it was that was beating me to a pulp.

From a distance, I would have sworn that the creature was just an oversized Beowolf; it had the same lithe figure as one as well as the arms, claws and spikes on its forearms, but that's where the similarities ended. Its hind legs, which it was standing entirely on, had white, cleft hooves instead of paws and were unnaturally bent between the hoof and the lower knee. The tail resembled a Taijitu King with a frilled, white dorsal fin with black spines going down the backbone of the snake-tail... thing... along with a frilled fin each going down the sides; all 3 ending at the mouth with the side frills giving it a king cobra look, and a white underbelly that the rest of the body shared as well as white coverings with red tribal patterns spattered over the top of its head. The only thing that it shared in common with the Kings was its blood-red eyes. Going up the chest, I noticed it had a head similar in shape to one of those weird African goats with the tall horns... What were they called again?

Springbok! That's it!

The head on the chest was similar in shape to a springbok yet the horns, which were white, grew out and over the shoulders of the creature. Just like the Beowolf, it had a white mask over the top half of its head; unlike the Beowolf, however, the red patterns only encircled its angry orange and red eyes as well as where its nose would be. The most menacing part, however, has to be what I assumed was the primary head on top of its shoulders. The head was very clearly that of a lion, yet it had saborteeth fangs that were long enough to be the length of the springbok head. Like the underbody, the entirety of the head with the exception of the mane was white and tribal patterns went down the center of its face and along its cheeks as the glowing read eyes with orange slits glared angrily at me. Its lion head pulled back a little ways before opening its mouth in what I initially thought was a roar, but soon found out that it was spitting more of those fireballs at me.

'This thing's... a nightmare!' I mentally cried out as I tried to twist my body around trying to avoid the fireballs on my way down, but was caught just before hitting the ground by the cobra tail and suddenly slammed into the ground.

I grunted in pain as I was repeatedly slammed into the dirt over and over before the creature had had enough and simply flung me in its path and then charged heads-first into me; causing me to fly into some more trees. "Damnit..." I cursed as I looked at my health, which was around fifty percent remaining, "I can't even make a move against it." I noticed some medals nearby, but couldn't quite tell what they were because the creature was already dashing towards me on all fours.

I decided to trust fate, at that point, and called them all at once to me as I thrust my hand out to them and pulled it in to my chest. All four medals soon raced to me faster than the creature could run and crashed into me. My thoughts as this happened were, 'If this works...'

" **LIQUEFACTION!** "

" **IRON BODY!** "

" **STRETCH!** "

" **SPEEDING-UP!** "

'I MIGHT just stand a chance.'

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Watching her bondmate speed off as fast as he did still put Yang on edge; she was not used to seeing anyone out-speed her little sister, but she put it off with a shrug and said, "Whelp, we're not catching up to him anytime soon." She turned to the others who all agreed with her before the professor suggested they actually form that perimeter she mentioned earlier. Coco still had her doubts, but nonetheless obeyed as she started to walk in the opposite direction as Dichro had ran to but stopped as she heard something. The noise was soft, almost like a barely audible clicking, which could have gone unheard had she not been her partner's friend since last year; she needed to have sensitive hearing to talk to the initially closed-in girl and it was paying off. Looking around, she had asked the others, "Did any of you hear that just now?" Yang was the first to reply as Nora held a hand behind her ear and moved her head around trying to find what it was Coco heard.

"Not sure, Coco," the blonde brawler answered honestly as she, too, looked around, "What DID you hear?"

"Oooh, I hope we didn't happen to find a Rapier Wasp nest..." Nora prayed as she continued to try and listen to her surroundings, "They always stole my syrup growing up..."

Coco had warned them that it was not a buzzing sound she heard; that it was actually a clicking kind of noise. She brought her purse to her hands and transformed it into her minigun as she aimed it in front of her. Glynda closed her eyes and tilted her head in one direction or another as she tried to feel out the situation before replying, "Actually, I believe I do hear it as well, Ms. Adel..." Indeed, she could hear something unusual in the woods to their left... And behind them...

"Uh oh..." Yang called out, "I saw a bunch of things just now... I think we're surrounded."

Sure enough, several dozen strange heads peeked out from behind the trees and glared angrily at the group of four with their glowing red and orange eyes. These creatures where unlike anything the four had ever seen; they stood not a head shorter than the average Beowolf, but had the length of one from the snout to the tail. Their heads were reptilian in shape, mouths filled with razor sharp teeth, and had white boney W shaped crests that jutted up and back; each tip coated in the same red color of a normal Grimm's patterns. Their arms were shorter than most; not fully reaching to the hips like most, but were armed with dangerous looking claws. Their bodies, while black and coated in feathers save for the feet, claws and undersides, were also laced with boney structures shaped like ribs and spines running down their backs and sides all the way to their tails. Their most distinct feature, however, were the legs that bent in two places, similar to a bird's, and ended with feet armed with large, vicious looking curled talons. All in all, the creatures were formidable predators on their own, but in a pack they were truly intimidating.

"What in the world?" Coco called out as she eyed the creatures. They were without a doubt Creatures of Grimm, but they were nothing like she'd ever seen or heard. Nora cheered as she hoisted Magnhild over her shoulders in a swinging pose and cried out, "Fresh meat!"

"Be careful, students, these are an entirely new breed of Grimm!" Goodwitch warned as she brought her crop out while Yang merely smirked as she activated Ember Celica and got into her fighting pose. "All the same," she said, "They're going down, either way."

With that, one of the creatures let out several croaking noises; almost like it was attempting to caw like a raven; and sent the rest of its pack into a frenzy as they dashed towards the group. In retaliation, Yang launched herself using the full force of her Ember Celica at the oncoming enemies, Nora swung Magnhild upward until it was over her head and brought it down full force onto the ground in front of her targets, Glynda brought her crop out to the side and swiped it horizontally to bring up platforms from the ground that slammed onto the unsuspecting creatures, while Coco merely opened fire as she mowed down the Grimm in front of her. None of them knew if they would be able to handle these intruders, but they understood one thing.

This was not going to be easy.

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

Cliffhanger!

Sorry, guys, but I had to end this one to keep updates as regular as I can. Hope you enjoy it all the same!

As always, until next time...

See you next game!


	30. Dragon's Birth

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls! Quick notice that I'll be taking a short hiatus once this chapter comes up, so please don't worry if I suddenly drop out of existence.

That being said, let's get on with the reviews before going straight into the chapter.

Raidentenshou, I'm glad you enjoy the Grimm that debuted in the last chapter; sadly, it won't just be Greek or Norse mythology that will be used in the future. I'm delving further into the rabbit hole to see just how far I can go before I get the next idea. As it stands, I already have an Aztec lore idea to use, but was planning on THAT one being in the last chapter along with the chimera until my pseudo beta suggested not to use it just yet. Hence why the raptors came in.

Oh, and to anyone wondering, the names of the Grimm will be revealed either in this or the next chapter.

For now, though, let's get on with the story.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC's mentioned in the story. RWBY and Kamen Rider are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Unknown Location-(

)-Third Person PoV-(

* * *

Salem breathed softly as she laid upon her 'throne' at the head of a long table; the effects of exhaustion from earlier that day still lingered on her lithe frame. Despite this, she gladly held a cruel smile as she clutched at the arm of her chair and started to chuckle to herself when she sensed her new children were facing their respective targets. To her, it was the beginning of the end of the Kamen Rider; to her, things were going according to plan. 'With that meddlesome "Rider" being dealt with by my most beautiful creation to date,' she mused to herself wickedly as she looked down at her left hand, 'He will be unable to defend his 'bondmate' from the pincer attack my more stubborn children have launched... Once they've been dealt with, no one will stand in my way...' Indeed, she had learned of the soulbond over the course of the month from her new... Dare she say... 'Partner'... Who had eventually shown her the results of his 'experiments'... 'Creatures so small and adorable that do not belong with the Grimm...' she criticized internally, 'They have no place in the new world, and neither does that despicable 'thing'.' So involved with her internal monologue, she hadn't noticed the swirl of orange pixels forming behind her and coming together to the familiar face she so despised; the man had regained most of his former image with the loss of the " _ERROR_ " messages all over his clothes, his legs were once more whole, and his face no longer had any pixels blocking it from view save for his left eye.

The man grinned in a creep-ish fashion as he leaned forward and asked her, "You're thinking about those Grimm you made the other day, aren't you?"

The action caught her by surprise, but her only reaction was the widening of her eyes and glancing at his direction before warning him, "Don't ever try to catch me off guard like that again if you value your life..."

"Kage..." she muttered the man's name venomously, causing his grin to only widen.

"Now now," he tutted her, "If you continue to sour your face like that, you will develop wrinkles... And we wouldn't want someone like you to actually look your age, now do we?" Early on, she had learned the man refused to go by his birth name and instead gave her one he felt suited him perfectly. In his home's language, Kage meant Shadow - a befitting name for one so unknown to her in Salem's opinion. "To answer your question, however... Yes, it does involve them..." she reluctantly stated. Kage's smile had left his face as he sighed lightly and turned to look out the windows before asking her if she knew that they would fail in their objective.

"Preposterous!" Salem cried out in objection, "My children will succeed one way or the other; even if they cannot defeat the Kamen Rider himself, they will still hinder him by destroying his bondmate..."

"Believe me, Salem, a Kamen Rider is NOT to be underestimated," Kage interjected as he turned back towards her, "Don't forget that I've fought them longer than you have as well as the fact that I was the one who MADE that device. No one knows more about what Para-DX is capable of than me." Salem had to confide in his words; afterall, she did learn he was not of the same realm of reality as her own, but she could not help but feel trepidatious about what her 'ally' had in store. She decided, however, to also challenge his words by asking where 'his' minions were and what they were doing.

"Oh, have no fear, Salem," he said coolly as his smile once again returned, "They are doing exactly what they are supposed to do..."

"And they will strike when they feel they are ready to strike."

* * *

)-In the Forever Fall Forest-(

* * *

A short ways away from the start of the fight between the strange amalgamation of Grimm and the dichromatic warrior, several bushes began to rustle as something small moved within them. Eventually, a pair of small, bone-white hands with black fur covering the backs of them pushed some of the leaves aside, revealing a pair of glowing, icy-blue eyes with white sclera peeked out; gazing at the combatants analytically as it watched them fight. It could tell that this being...

This 'Kamen Rider'...

Was the objective that its father wanted it to seek out and destroy, but it also knew it stood no chance against him as it was... As if it were a scientist observing an experiment, it watched on with intense interest to see who would win, why the outcome will be what it will be, and how to combat the winner's style.

It knew it had a long way to go, but with its father backing it up and access to positive emotional energy, it knew it could grow powerful.

Just how powerful, though, was anyone's guess.

* * *

)-With Dichro-(

* * *

The creature once again unleashed a plethora of fireballs at its opponent; frustration blinding its sense of intellect as the silvery blob dodged them all in rapid succession as it shot out tendrils of silvery liquid pointed at the tips. The creature narrowly avoids most of them with a few scraping its limbs as it speeds around to the other side to try and gain a better advantage over the Kamen Rider as he reforms his body into a large, buff shape before it ducked under a slashing tendril from him. The monstrosity unleashed a bleating sound from its springbok head, a roar from its lion head and a moaning roar from its serpentine head; the roar, itself, was recognizable to Dichro as the one that he had heard earlier.

'There's no doubt about it, now,' he mused as he morphed his body around the claws that had threatened to slice him open, 'This was the thing we heard earlier.' He soon stretched several tendrils from his back and launched them in rapid bursts at the monster in an attempt at doing damage. Like before, only some had managed to graze the creature as it leapt over him and launched itself straight for him; forcing him to dive onto the ground and stretch around its legs just as it passed. Along the way, he stretched out several spines to try and cut one of the creature's legs off, but it retracted the closest leg to the spines, its right leg, just as they passed each other. As they landed, the monster soon turned back and launched another volley of fireballs at the armored warrior who had to shrink quite a bit in order to avoid most of them by slinking around them. 'Its aim's getting better... I need to hurry,' Dichro deduced as the lion head unleashed the moaning roar this time, catching him off guard just enough for the beast to run into him with its springbok head; causing him to splatter on contact. It looked around to see what was left of its prey in shattered pieces. Thinking it had won, the creature unleashed a roar from its lion head, a hiss from its serpentine head, and another moaning roar from its springbok head this time around.

If it had been paying attention, it would have noticed all the splattered pieces of its opponent stretching out towards it. It didn't, though, which allowed the pieces to impale the beast and reform behind it into its opponent with tendrils shooting out of where his arms were. 'Alright, bastard,' he cursed at the creature internally, 'Let's see you survive this!' And with that, he forced the tendrils impaled into the monster to shoot out even more spikes that poked out of random parts of the creature's body before pulling the tendrils out entirely, ripping out small chunks of its body in the process. Just as he retracted the tendrils into his body to form his arms, the creature lumbered forward lightly before suddenly lashing its tail-head at him; forcing him to slink away from the creature and reforming a good distance away just in time to see it turn around and spit out another volley of fireballs.

'Holy crapbaskets, it survived!' he exclaimed internally as he squished his body under the volley and stretched away from the beast as it charged at him once more. 'Just how the hell do I kill it... Real-world logic dictates that should have killed it, but...' His thoughts were interrupted as the creature resorted to slashing and swatting at him. Dichro had managed to dodge a side-swipe from its left claw by backing away when its right one started to come up from below. He managed to avoid it by warping his body just under the claw as it climbed up to try and hit him until he was fully underneath it. The creature brought its left claw down from above in an attempt to squash him; to which he responded by warping his body around the claw and flinging himself backwards as it recovered its claw and swiped at its arm with a sharpened tendril. He continued dodging its attacks in this way while lashing out at it with his own blade-shaped tendrils in this way until he noticed the creatures' eyes on the lion head; they weren't slitted, and instead were the same glowing red and orange eyes that the other heads had. He also noticed that the serpent head's eyes were now slitted, instead, as it perpetually stared at him instead of trailing behind the body. The sight brought an idea to him as he dodged the attacks and squeezed his body between the creature's hind legs and thought, '... But video game logic dictates a win-condition hasn't been met yet... If my guess is right, then all I have to do is... THIS!' As he brought himself past the creature's serpent head, one of his tendrils shifted into a blade and lashed out at the tail; the action itself cut it clean off, causing the head to dissolve into a black mist and then into nothing.

"HOT DAMN! BINGO!" Dichro cried out as he launched himself away from a now berserk monstrosity as it tried to backhand him with its left claw. 'That's it - I just have to kill the heads!' he deduced as he reformed himself just in time for the power-ups to wear off. 'Ah great... At least I know what to do now...' he mused to himself, 'But actually doing so... That's gonna be a little bit tricky...'

As he thought this, however, a powerful rage overcame him briefly before an overwhelming sense of fear and dread washed over him; and it wasn't his.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

* * *

"These things just won't stop appearing!" Coco had called out as she continued to open fire on the strange creatures that now attacked her and her allies almost from all sides. Nora was barely able to bat a few of the ones she was fighting away before she ended up getting a tail slammed into her left side and flung into Yang's back just as the blonde brawler had jumped back to avoid a vicious bite. The creatures that were in the girls' path jumped away in time for them to crash into the ground. Nora was the first to recover as she rolled off of Yang before kicking both feet into the neck of another of the creatures that had chased her in an attempt to get off the ground. Yang, on the other hand, had simply stood on one knee and punched the ground with both fists, causing her weapons to fire off explosive rounds, before being sent airborne several feet into the air. As she fell back down, the creatures ran to where she would land and watched in anticipation; that was when they realized a mistake had been made. The blonde brawler had pulled her right fist back and punched the closest creature in the left side of its torso which had resulted in two things happening; the first was the creature instantly disolving into a black mist, and the second was that her fist collided with the ground which sent a shockwave out and knocked several of the creatures back.

Glynda wasn't doing much better as she had used her telekinesis to lift chunks of the ground up and launched them into the creatures and even took larger chunks of it as crushing instruments in order to try and even the odds out a bit. Yet it was all for naught as the creatures simultaneously learned to avoid anything she threw as well as responding fast enough to jump out of the way of her wider attacks. The strain of using her Semblance so much was starting to take its tole on her as she used it to lift some straggling creatures that tried to go in for a quick strike to her sides before sending them flying into the main group. After this, none of them tried to even approach her and were instead constantly avoiding her attacks by jumping, running to the sides, and even ducking. 'Whatever these Grimm are, they are learning at an extraordinary rate...' she observed before calling out to her students, "Be careful! These things are dangerous learners!"

"More like 'Fangerous' learners!" Yang had tried to joke as she landed a left hook on the neck of one of the creatures before having to jump back to avoid being bitten on the face by another one. As she landed, she began to fire off rounds from Ember Celica that caused the few creatures to be hit to fly back into the trees behind them. The others, however, saw this new attack and started to avoid it like the plague by ducking and running. "Hold still so I can shoot you, stinking bird wanna-bes!" she threatened them as she continued to shoot them.

Nora, in a single horizontal swing, had managed to knock six of the creatures away from her which prompted her to turn Magnhild into its grenade launcher form and fire a few rounds at the group. The first one that exploded caught a few of the creatures and ended up blowing limbs off of them, but the sub-sequential grenades weren't so lucky. The moment the creatures saw the explosion, they had begun to jump away from the grenades just before they exploded. "Wow, you were right, teach," Nora commented as she returned Magnhild to its hammer form, "These things really do learn fast!" She brought her hammer over her left shoulder and started to charge at the group, but was stopped after a single step as she felt her weapon get heavier all of a sudden. She looked back to see one of the creatures had its jaw clamped onto the hilt of the weapon while its talon feet clasped the head firmly in a vice grip. Nora's eyes widened in surprise before narrowing in agitation as she tried to pull the weapon away from the creature to no avail, even going so far as to tell it to get off Magnhild. The other creatures saw the opportunity to strike, but refused to do so out of caution; instead resorting to sending a few of them to latch onto either what was visible of the weapon or onto their fellow creature to keep her weapon weighed down.

Coco, however, had a different problem... She was starting to run out of things to shoot, or so she thought. As she shot down the last few creatures she could see in front of her, she looked back to notice that even more were around her allies. As she hoisted her weapon up to fire it, some of the creatures spotted her and jumped in between her and the people she was fighting alongside. She hesitated at the sight of this. 'Damnit...' she cursed internally, 'They're using their own bodies as bait so I can hurt the others by mistake...' She never opened fire, but she also refused to drop her weapon; the longer she could keep these things busy with her, the more time her friends had to finish them off. The creatures, however, had other plans as some had charged straight for her. Still not wanting to risk firing on the others, she brought her minigun back and flung it upward, nailing one of the chargers in the underbelly with the barrel as she brought it over her head; sending the creature flying into a tree behind her. Another pair approached from either side of her field of view as she started to pull her weapon back down. Eventually, she brought it down on the left creature's head, crushing it in one go with a sickening cracking sound, as she lifted her right leg into a sideways kick into the other creature's neck, sending it reeling towards the group Nora was still struggling against. Spinning herself on her heel, she quickly took aim at the creatures holding Magnhild down and warned Nora to duck. The pink-loving hammer wielder obliged, but, unfortunately, so did the creatures she was aiming for as they jumped away. "Damnit!" she cursed as she brought her weapon behind her right leg, "Just how damn smart are these things?!"

"LEMME GO, YOU FEATHERED FREAKS!" Coco could hear Yang cry out in frustration.

Looking over to her, the fashionista could see that two of the creatures had latched their jaws onto her blond-haired friend's gauntlets and were pulling full force in opposing directions. As the blonde brawler continued to vainly pry herself free, two more of the creatures latched onto her elbows with their jaws. The pressure wasn't enough to break through her aura, but it was more than enough to cause her to cry out in pain as they, too, started to tug on her arms. For Yang, it felt like they were ripping her arms apart. In truth, they may as well have because in a few final pulls they had managed to pry Yang's weapons from her wrists; their mangled forms cutting into the cloth of the gloves she wore under them and eventually ripping them apart as the force sent her and her captors holding her arms flying backwards a few feet. Recovering from her fall, she became furious as she pulled herself up onto her arms and knees and yelled out in anger, "GIMME THOSE BACK, YOU MONS-". Her words were caught in her throat as she witnessed the creatures each swallowing the remains of her Ember Celica whole. While it was nowhere near the same level Ruby had with Crescent Rose, Yang still was damn proud of her own weapons; Signal didn't have the kind of forging systems that Beacon had, so to her it was an accomplishment right up there with becoming a professor. Her heart fell at seeing them devoured, but that feeling was soon replaced with disgust as she saw the creatures retching and heaving.

Each one eventually coughed out black balls of slimy flesh that pulsated briefly before they started to grow the moment they hit the ground. They grew and morphed legs, claws, a tail and a head that all became defined and covered with feathers until they became exact copies of the 'parents' that puked them out. 'Oh dear Oum...' she mentally pleaded as fear washed over her. Coco and Nora witnessed this as well, each one thinking of how they were supposed to defeat the creatures if they could just multiply that easily. They knew this much, though; these creatures were the single most dangerous Grimm they had ever encountered.

* * *

)-With Dichro-(

* * *

Hopping backwards to avoid another swipe from the creature's left claw, Dichro's only concern now was finishing this fight as he considered his options. 'I know that there's two heads left, but how can I kill them in time?' he mused as he ducked under a diagonal upward swipe from it's right claw and tried to deliver a right jab into the creature's gut with all his strength, but found its skin to be hard as it didn't even give way. Looking at the springbok head, he noticed its eyes were horizontally slitted and jumped away to try and gain space. It was by dumb luck that he had avoided a downward slam of the creature's left claw once more. 'Damnit, there's gotta be something that can help out...' the dichromatic warrior cursed as he looked around. The only thing he could see was a bright light green medal depicting a Rider surrounded by bookshelves. Confused, he tried to ponder on what the power-up would do, but didn't get too much time in doing so as he rolled under the creature as it tried to leap at him. 'No time to think about it,' he thought as he held a hand out to the power-up and flung it to himself, 'I have to figure it out on the fly!'

The medal followed his hand's motion as it flew into and shattered upon him.

" **MEMORY!** "

'What the - Memory?!' he asked himself. A halo formed around his body with rectangular images spinning around him as he looked around. He tried to keep up to see what these images were, but eventually gave up due to the speed at which they orbited around him. Deciding to press his luck, he pulled a fist back and threw a punch at random; hoping he would get something to help. The images all stopped moving; revealing themselves to be images of what appeared to be USB drives with light green borders. The one his fist was connected to, though, caught him off guard. It was a black USB drive with purple markings along the lower front of the drive. The only discernable letter he could tell off the bat was the white " _S_ " with a purple outline shaped like a skull. As he retracted his hand, the border around the image turned golden as a new voice called out the name of the "memory" he had selected which followed with a quick guitar riff.

" **SKULL!** "

With that, the images all faded as a purple energy wrapped around his body. Though he didn't notice at first, Dichro's armor had changed colors; the gold was now silver with the blue and red becoming black. The normal puzzle patterns on his chest was now replaced with the same skull mark the USB drive had. Looking to the power-up slots, he could see the same symbol in place of his usual medals, but instead of a timer, it had a " _2_ " on the bottom right corner. 'So I'm technically Kamen Rider Skull, now,' he surmised as he turned his attention back to the creature, 'Also looks like I only have two shots... More than enough, I say...' As he charged the creature, which had recovered and turned around from its own charge, it unleashed a moaning roar from its springbok head and ran straight for him as he pulled his right fist back to throw a powerful haymaker. The punch connects with the right horn of the springbok head and the shoulder of the creature itself; shattering the former as it tumbled to its left side and rolled some ways before it got back up. "Wow... Guess it's like a mini-Muscular, too..." Dichro said to himself as he inspected his fist before turning to the creature, "Now let's see what ELSE this baby has in store..." As he declared his intentions, the now monochromatic warrior reached for the GGD and pulled it out briefly before quickly turning the dial to its default position and back to Perfect Puzzle as he slammed it back into its holster. As he did so, the announcement voice for the insertion was unchanged, but what changed was the voice announcing the actual attack as well as the attack's name itself.

" **DUAL GASHAT! SKULL MAXIMUM DRIVE!** "

"Wait, what?!" he cried out in surprise.

Purple energy once more wrapped around his body before it focused around his torso; allowing itself to take on the shape of a skull. 'Holy crapbaskets, I can use Skull's finisher?!' he exclaimed in his head as he stared at the skull in shock before remembering why he was using it as the creature once more charged at him. 'Sorry for stealing your move, Sokichi,' Dichro apologized as he raised his right fist out to the creature, 'But I kinda need it at the moment!' Once the creature was within striking distance, the monochromatic warrior flung his right arm behind him and protruded his chest a little which caused the skull to fly forward into the creature; specifically, into the creature's lion head which resulted in the head being vaporized and the rest of the creature to be sent flying backwards into a roll, but the energy skull did not dissipate. Instead, it floated into the air several feet above the ground. Dichro saw this and had jumped as high as his suited body could allow; just enough to be behind the skull. On the way, he had pulled the GGD out just enough to once again trigger the finishing move as he turned the dial to its default position and back to Perfect Puzzle.

" **DUAL GASHAT! SKULL MAXIMUM DRIVE!** "

With that, he unleashed a kick onto the skull that sent the projectile towards the creature; opening its jaw as it flew towards its target. The beast unleashed one final moaning roar as its body was consumed in the purple energy and vaporized into black dust upon Dichro's landing.

" **All clear!** "

Upon the GGD's finisher announcement, Dichro's color scheme returned to normal as the dust gathered into his chest; allowing his suit to absorb the essence of the Grimm. The young man watched as Perfect Puzzle's level continued to climb until it stopped at level 28 with only a pinky-nail's thickness away from level 29, and watched as the announcement sound for his level up play before panic once more began to set in; this time his own as he felt Yang's desperation and anger. 'Crap! I gotta get over to her, fast!' he cursed at himself as he looked around before running straight into the direction he could feel Yang was. He eventually found a speed power-up after a few feet and triggered it to try and reach her as fast as he could. He simply hoped and prayed that he wasn't too late.

* * *

)-With Yang and the others-(

* * *

She couldn't believe what she had witnessed...

Yang was at an absolute loss for words...

She just lost her weapons...

And what's more, those... things... multiplied right after consuming Ember Celica.

'They have to be stopped...' she thought as she closed her eyes in frustration and desperation; her aura flaring to life as her hair waved like flames in the wind. 'Someone has to stop these monsters... Before ANYONE else gets hurt... Before RUBY gets hurt!' Her fists clenched hard, grinding her nails into the balls of her palms, as she stood up shakily before opening her now fierce crimson eyes and shouting at the top of her lungs, "I'LL KILL YOU, YOU MONSTERS!" As the creatures turned their heads to the source of the shout, she had already launched head-first into a group of them and landed a right punch into the jaw of the nearest one and shattered its head on impact. Another creature leapt at her from the left side and attempted to swipe at her with its feet, but she unleashed an uppercut with her left fist into the creature's torso before it could use the attack opportunity; causing it to disintegrate upon contact. Three more from behind her ran up to try and clamp down onto her, only for the fastest one to meet an elbow to the snout that sent its corpse reeling into the other two. The creatures that were attacking Glynda and Nora soon turned their attention onto the blonde brawler and started to charge at her as well.

Yang turned to face the oncoming forces with an angry glare as she held her fists up; ready for whatever may come. Several of the creatures leapt up and brought their talons down trying to nail her, yet she avoided them by rolling forward; launching herself towards the rest of her attackers as she got back on her feet. The one that came dangerously close to biting her head received a rather painful gut-check as her right fist dug into its undercarriage before knocking it away with a left hook to the face. Another two came up on her left flank with their mouths wide open as she flung her arm towards them. One of them had managed to bite down on her wrist, but the other got knocked away as the former's body crashed into it. The creature didn't stay latched on long, though, as Yang brought her right fist down in between the eyes; crushing the skull in that singular hit. Several of the creatures soon made a strange barking caw as the charged to surround the blonde brawler. They all tried to jump onto her formidable form as she batted them away, but eventually one of them successfully grabbed a mouthful of golden hair; tugging hard at it to make the poor girl fall flat on her back. This allowed the others to jump onto and latch down onto her with whatever they could get onto her body to restrain her. Yang struggled to break free of her captors yet their sheer numbers were soon becoming too much even for her Semblance-empowered strength. Coco had seen enough and yelled out, "NORA! PROFESSOR! DUCK!" as she held her weapon aloft and opened fire. Most of the creatures that were on top of the pile on the blonde brawler had jumped away to avoid the machinegun fire, but the rest weren't so lucky as they were mowed down and pelted away by the bullets. Glynda had used her telekinesis to quickly push the creatures further away as she and Nora ran to Yang's side.

'The poor girl's a mess,' the professor noticed as she inspected Yang's bruised and bloodied form as she breathed sharply; some parts the creatures' fangs and claws had actually sunk into her skin deep enough to see the bone which was a sign that her aura had been all but spent, 'If we can get her out of here, she may survive...'

Nora's mind was wracked with anger as she gripped Magnhild and looked back at the creatures with a ferocious glare. 'I don't care HOW smart these things think they are,' she stated internally, 'NO ONE hurts my friends and gets away with it!'

Coco was the only one actively trying to fight the creatures as she kept her back to the group and resumed firing into the forests where they had started to retreat; only to notice their numbers had somehow doubled in that timespan. 'How in the hell do we kill something that just keeps coming back?' she questioned herself as she hears clicking with no gunfire going off; signaling that she was out of ammo.

No one noticed, however, that a new visitor had come up to the clearing they were in until they heard them shout out in raw, unbridled rage.

* * *

)-Meanwhile-(

)-With Dichro-(

* * *

"I can't believe how many of these things there are..." the dichromatic warrior muttered to himself as he ran through a rather heavily infested part of the forest; noticing the creatures which reminded him of raptors that consumed leaves, rocks, broken branches, and anything they could get their jaws on. On his approach, his speed-boost ran out which forced him to use his own two feet to try and reach the others; the odd thing was that the creatures made no attempts to stop him. Something didn't seem quite right about them to him as they blatantly ignored him and some even ran alongside him a short ways, emitting a barking caw sound every so often if they were close enough before breaking off in different directions. 'These things... aren't normal...' he noted as he looked around to see even more of them coming out of the woodworks. That's when he noticed the ones that were eating suddenly started to vomit black balls of flesh that became even more of the creatures. 'That explains that; guess I found my farming spots,' he thought to himself as he charged further towards where he thought the rest of the group was.

Eventually, he reached the clearing but stood in shock as he watched Coco practically demolish an entire pile of the creatures with her minigun, even though only a few of them actually died in the process. That's when he saw it. Lying on the ground, beaten and injured, was his bondmate - the very last person he expected to be brought down so quickly. The two of them had grown closer over the month; even he could tell that much. To see her so vulnerable when he wasn't there... It struck him hard in his heart; as if he had failed to be the protector he had sworn to be for his family, but, to him, this hurt much worse. As he took in her prone form, almost completely ignoring the other three, his horror and shock slowly drained away as anger began to boil in his blood. It eventually reached a point where he couldn't hold it in any longer.

With a warcry of pure rage, he ran for the ones he believed responsible for the mess that Yang was in - the very creatures that avoided him. He charged into the closest group of the creatures before he brought his right fist back and punched one of them in the back of its head; causing it to disintegrate instantly and its essence to be absorbed into his armor. The creatures finally noticed this and tried desperately to run away from him, but even they were taken by surprise at his speed as he ran straight towards another two, grabbed their tails, and tossed them to either side of him; the very force of the throw caused them both to vaporize upon hitting the trees. Running almost on instinct, he took out the GGD and quickly turned the dial to Knockout Fighter before slamming it back into the holster without even giving it a chance to acknowledge that he had selected it nor without calling out his usual transformation phrase. His armor's head, chest design, and dial all spun completely around as his pauldrons floated from his shoulders onto his fists.

" **EXPLOSION HIT! KNOCKOUT FIGHTER!** "

Once transformed, his entire body soon became enveloped in bright red flames of energy as his speed and reflexes sharpened - almost to the point of him vanishing as he began to destroy every last creature in his sight with a flurry of punches. The creatures tried desperately to run, yet they could not escape. One had been caught by the throat which had been crushed in Dichro's hand as another was thrown into another group of four that were running; all five had vaporized on contact. Two of the creatures even became so desperate that they ran to him and latched their jaws onto his fist weapons, yet they met their end as he slammed his fists together; crushing their skulls instantly as a result. As his rampage continued, a searing pain began to shoot through his body as red and blue bolts of electricity began to form around his body. The pain soon became too much as he gripped his head and cried out in agony; forcing him onto his knees as he suddenly loses his transformation. 'Crap! I screwed up!' he cursed himself as he felt the pain intensify at a rapid pace. He only had time to yell out "RUN!" before his pain became unbearable.

Dichro Spectrum had blacked out at that moment as he unconsciously arched his back, flung his arms to his sides, and let out a blood-curdling scream of pain as his body became enveloped and devoured in a mass of purple, goo-like substance. The substance soon started to grow to massive proportions as it took on a quadrupedal form. Though it lacked any fine details, the form was clearly animalistic in nature as its legs each took the shape of draconic claws. Its size continued to grow as a pair of whip-like tails formed on the mass' backside; each ending with what appeared to be wrecking balls at the tips. It soon stopped growing as it reached the size of a mountain before its front started to divide into three separate protrusions. Each one began to grow into a lengthened neck as they started to take shape; each one growing what appeared to be a draconic head with different styled horns on their heads. The right head had what appeared to be three long, slender horns that were rather wobbly as it shook on either side of its head. The left head held a pair of odd, rounded horns with two prongs resting behind it. The middle, however, held the most draconic looking pair of horns that curved down at the middle and then straight up at the tips. Each head had on it a pair of angry, glowing crimson eyes that took in their surroundings until they set their sights upon the distant city of Vale.

With its target in sight, the three-headed creature let loose a powerful crackling roar that shook the very earth it stood on.

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

Oh dear... It looks like things took a rather dark turn, haven't they? What will happen now? Stay tuned to find out, and remember; until next time...

See you next game!


	31. Assistance Notice please?

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

I am SO sorry for the long delay to the next chapter. IRL isn't the only culprit for it, though, as I am also to blame. This is part of why I tried asking for help from someone who could be just as active as me. Another part is the fact that I get terribly distracted easily so I need someone to help keep me focused and try to offer up suggestions for how the chapters can be improved upon, help find issues with them.

Basically, I need a beta reader...

Be sure to PM me if you think you can help out.


	32. Enter the Game, Ride Player!

Hello all you Boils and Ghouls!

Before we begin... I want to say thank you to everyone that's supported the story thus far. With everything that's been going on IRL, the story's kinda been put on the backburner for a while, but I do work on chapters when I have free time.

Hopefully, I'm able to finish the arc soon and be able to proceed to the next one. That's when the juicy stuff comes in. Also, be prepared for some new faces in this chapter!

Before we begin, let's start off with the reviews.

Revamped Persona, while I am glad I got the intended effect out of you, that is not his Bugster; it's just his Union.

phoniex45, Kamen Rider Chronicle WILL be used in THIS chapter.

Raidentensho, I have not seen even Vol. 4, so anything up until THAT point may not be used in the story. The Bugster Union was, indeed, based off of Death Ghidorah, King Ghidorah, and Kaizer Ghidorah, so that should come as no surprise. The Raptors' reproduction mechanic was, indeed, inspired by the Shriekers of Tremors II. As for Jaune's Semblance... I'm not so sure.

reynardgautama, thanks for the compliment and I hope to hear more from you.

Now let's be on our way! On with the story - WAIT! We haven't gotten the disclaimer out of the way!

ONWARD TO THE DISCLAIMER!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC's mentioned in the story. RWBY and Kamen Rider are the intellectual properties of their respective owners; please support the official release.

* * *

)-Legend-(

* * *

"Yo!" - Speaking

'Is he an idiot?' - Thinking

" _Dearest love,_ " - Reading

" **Kaishin no Ippatsu!** " - Specials

* * *

)-Co _R_ **R** _ **U**_ pT **3** _d_ PoV-(

* * *

Data Log Entry 10

Subject: Catastrophe

Entry Log: I cannot BELIEVE that insufferable wrench*! Her plan not only fails stupendously, it has outright BACKFIRED! The stress of seeing his soulmate being near critically injured has sent Dichro's viruses into a rampaging growth spurt that has somehow caused both strains to fuse together! This is only an assumption as I can only vaguely sense the virus itself; however, another theory is that they had forged this merged virus quite some time ago by complete and utter chance. Because of this, the virus is incapable of creating a Bugster of its own as it has no base data to work with. What's more is that this particular strain is completely out of control; it has no sense of ally or enemy. If my hypothesis is correct, the virus will slowly destroy the boy's body; along WITH the other two viruses, until it dies out with nothing remaining - leaving ME without a way to leave this heaven-forsaken realm!

All I can do at this point is to assure myself of this; if that boy perishes before I am done with him, I will make ABSOLUTE CERTAIN that Salem suffers IMMENSELY for this transgression! I will NOT be denied of ANYTHING! Not godhood! Not total domination! Not even freedom!

If there was EVER a time that I would hope someone was intelligent enough to use ANY of my grand works, NOW is that time.

* * *

)-Unknown Location-(

)-First Person PoV-(

* * *

'Ugh... My head hurts...' I complained to myself as I tried to open my eyes... 'Matter of fact... My 'everything' hurts...' When I had first started to look around and saw nothing but pitch black all around me, I thought I had failed to open my eyes and tried to rub them... As I brought my hands up, however, I noticed that I could see them clear as day; same went to the rest of my body as I looked down, but the surprises didn't end there...

Someway... Somehow... I had been restored to my true body!

I still had my tiki necklace, sure, but that was the only thing from my Remnant self that was actually from my old body. I propped myself onto my elbows and looked down to see my dark blue and green plaid pajama pants and my old silver-colored t-shirt. I continued to inspect myself and noticed that, even though I wasn't as muscular as I was on Remnant, I was in better shape than I used to be. As I sat up fully, the smallest definitions of an athletic build appeared on my arms as I experimentally flexed them. Leaning forward to try and inspect my torso, I noticed my chocolate brown hair falling to either sides of my head and pinched a lock of it and tugged it to try and discern if I was dreaming or not.

"Ow!" Nope, I wasn't dreaming, and that hurt...

I climbed up onto my own two bare feet and started to look around in utter confusion for a little while before I asked aloud to what I had assumed was no one in particular, "Where the hell am I?"

"Do you mean in the physical sense or in your current metaphysical state?" I heard someone else reply back; startling me into jumping forward and turning around into a kickboxing stance. I had no idea what I was expecting, to be honest, but the two guys in front of me was definitely not it by any stretch of the imagination. The first happened to be a spiky and crimson-haired guy, with outrageously large eyebrows that laid ontop of his white headband, staring at me rather intensely from what I could tell with his bright red eyes; I swear, he could give Might Guy and Rock Lee a run for their money with those carpet brows of his! The only thing bigger than his eyebrows were the pair of red boxing gloves with white wrist straps over his hands. The only article of clothing the guy wore was a pair of what I could only assume were red gi pants that were torn at the hems of his legs; everything else was as bare as an empty apartment room. The guy had a really muscular frame - almost like a body builder's - which only added to his intimidation factor. The other, though, was giving me the same vibe as... Oh what was that archer guy on that show about dead people...?

I couldn't think of it, but the cold, emotionless gaze he was giving me with those icy-blue eyes of his gave of a dangerous vibe.

Anyway, he was only slightly taller than this friend and had mid-neck length dark blue, almost black, hair that was oiled and brushed straight down and parted straight down the middle to keep his face revealed. He had on a pair of half-frame glasses that rested on the bridge of his nose that he adjusted by pushing on the rim with his middle finger. He was wearing what looked to be a navy blue short-sleeved hoodie with yellow trim around the ends of the sleeves and over his front pockets along with a white long-sleeved shirt underneath that had a jigsaw puzzle piece outline on the front; his simple blue jeans and dark-blue boat shoes seemed to fit in with the casual but dangerous aesthetic he seemed to go with. Overall, the two of them were rather intimidating, so, together, it didn't take them long to have me worried about my safety.

Taking the words one of them said into consideration, I had decided to look around a little more and shrugged slightly as I said "Both?" in a rather confused and questioning matter.

The guy with the glasses nodded as he rested his hands inside his hoodie's side pockets and started to explain what was going on. "Then we'll start with the simplest to elucidate," he began, "Physically, your body is inside an abnormally enormous Bugster Union; one which, I must confess, is targeting the nearby city and is on the move there as we speak -"

"Hold on!" I cried out, interrupting him, "Before you finish that thought, how do you know about Bugster Unions?" The guy simply scoffed at me and said that he will get to that once my earlier questions were answered.

"As for the metaphysical aspect of where you currently reside," he resumed coldly, "I must ask first if you are familiar with the concept theory of a 'mindscape'." I simply nodded and allowed him to continue; I mean there have been shows and books that do things in one's mind, so why would this be any different? Though that did bring to question why 'my' mindscape was so barren... "Very good, then expounding on the current situation will be that much less difficult of a task. Before I begin, I believe my brother and I neglected to introduce ourselves. I am Azul; the mascot of the game Perfect Puzzle which is also one of the components of your Gashat Gear Dual which is now in the custody of one of your friends. Which one, however, I am unfamiliar with. The stern fellow to my left is my brother, Rojo; the mascot of the game Knockout Fighter which is the other component." As he said this, he motioned to the man next to him who then nodded at me; to which I returned the gesture with my own before I added all the information together and came to a realization.

"So wait; you two are the Bugsters?!" I exclaimed in a cross between panic and fury.

"Correct," Azul replied rather curtly as he took out his right hand to adjust his glasses once more, "However, just because we are Bugsters does not mean we are any less prisoners in this scenario than you are."

'Okay, that's not a good sign,' I thought to myself in concern, but before I could ask what he meant, he began his speech once more. "As for where we are, metaphysically, we are NOT in your mindscape, I'm afraid as I am sure you've already questioned yourself on how this place looks so barren," he stated as he motioned to the void that we were in, but just as I was about to ask whose this was, then, he seemingly answers my question as if reading my mind, "We are currently residing within my brother's mindscape; as much as I loathe to admit it..."

The man in question, Rojo, turned to his brother and tilted his head slightly as he asked, "Remind me again what a mindscape is?"

"And now you see why it is little more than an empty, black void," Azul stated as he looked at his brother with a deadpanned expression. I stared in slight disbelief before I shook my head rapidly; trying to dispel whatever cobwebs were left in my head as my train of thought returned once more to the matter at hand - the fact that a Bugster Union is now running amok in the world. Turning to the pair, I pleaded for them to tell me if they knew of a way to stop the Union's rampage.

"Kid, we done tried everything..." Rojo moaned out in defeat as his shoulders hung loose, "Bashing it. Smashing it. Trash-talking it... Nothing's worked."

"Indeed, I, too, have exhausted all possible methods of regaining control over the Union..." Azul declared as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms, "Sadly, this Union is unaffected by anything we do to it directly. For, you see, this Union was manifested from an unnatural mutation brought upon by the unintended amalgamation of mine and my brother's viruses - in other words, it is a cross virus." He scoffed slightly as he continued to explain, "What's more, this virus is attempting desperately to form a Bugster it has no data on; which, in effect, is in the same manner of a computer trying to load a deleted executable file." I thought about this for a moment and it brought up when my best friend tried something similar and ended up essentially killing her computer because of it... Which meant...

"In other words, this union is killing all three of us trying to form this non-Bugster...?" I asked in concern, to which I got a nod of affirmation in return. 'Great,' I thought disdainfully, 'I'm gonna die in someone else's head.'

"However..." Azul interrupted my musings as he gave a small semblance of a smirk, "There may be a way for us to at least hinder this Union regardless of our inability to directly stop it." This had peaked my interest, so I nodded in affirmation to allow him to go on explaining what he meant. "You see, while we are not responsible for the formation of the Union, my brother and I are still, in fact, linked to it as a source of power. If you sever that link by curing yourself of our viruses, it will reduce the monster's level dramatically and allow the two of us to escape, if we so choose, and engage the creature directly OR we can remain here and use the remains of our virus to fend off the life drain long enough for the Kamen Rider to complete the surgery in order to separate us from you."

"What?" was all the Knuckles wanna-be said before his brother sighed in exasperation. Azul turned to the red-haired man and stated, "In short, he plays our games and clears them, we can help him in return. We cannot afford to lose ourselves to a mutant virus." I perused through his words thinking that, even though they are Bugsters, they still had the same stakes in this situation as I did; if we didn't work together, all of us would die. Then I got to thinking about what he mentioned they would do before the words "for 'the' Kamen Rider" to replay in my head. Something in me snapped the pieces together as my eyes widened in shock before I called out to Azul, "Hey! You said something about 'the' Kamen Rider?" At his nod, I continued to prod him on the subject, "I thought I was the only Kamen Rider because no one else can use the GGD? And even then, wouldn't they be killed by it?"

"Once it has found a suitable player, any subsequent players until the initial player's demise would, indeed, suffer a fatal dosage of both of our strains of the virus," he explained as he readjusted his glasses, "However, I was not aware of the fact that you did not see the other Kamen Rider." As he said this, his hand motioned behind him and what appeared to be a REALLY old TV set appeared out of nowhere. The image on the old, dilapidated box was fuzzy with scattered static across it, at best, but I could see a brown-colored figure facing down that I assumed was one of the Union's heads. Walking closer to the screen, I was able to get a clear view of the figure; it was a Ride Player!

... With cat ears?!

* * *

)-Earlier-(

)-With Blake and Ruby-(

* * *

"Whatever's making those noises sure is creepy sounding, huh Blake?" Ruby asked her sister's partner as she filled up another jar with red tree sap; setting it aside with the other four jars she had filled and hidden under some leaves as per Ren's recommendation.

As another distant roar echoed through the forest, said Cat Faunus' ears shot straight up as her body shivered with a cold chill running down her spine; the very sound to most people would be unsettling, but to someone like Blake it was made worse with her hearing. "You don't know the half of it," she replied to her team's leader as she started to fill up another jar while fighting back goosebumps. The sound reminded her of something from one of those horror films that Jaune had shown them. As Ruby was turning back to get a new jar, she noticed something jutting out of one of Blake's pockets; a black rectangular piece of what she assumed was plastic at first glance. Ever the inquisitive youth, the crimson reaper had asked her older friend what she had in her pocket was.

This, in turn, got Blake to turn to the younger girl in confusion before looking down and noticing the device sticking out of her pocket out of embarrassment. Pulling it out, she held it up to look at it and sighed before saying, "Look, I meant to tell you and Weiss last night, but I was too exhausted trying to make up for the schoolwork..." Turning the device to where her partner's sister could see it, she explained that, to hers and Professor Ozpin's knowledge, it was what Dichro called a Gashat. When asked why it was so small, the Cat Faunus mentioned, "The device that Dichro has is special. This that I'm holding now is supposed to be a normal Gashat judging from the size; at least that's what Professor Ozpin thinks." As she inspected it, Ruby took note of the individual silhouettes that made up the background until she noticed something about the last two in the far back. She couldn't quite place it, but the young reaper kept getting the impression of déjà vu when she saw them. She tried to voice her suspicion, but, before a word could escape her mouth, both girls heard a rather loud scream, similar to a warcry, echoing from the distance. Blake immediately went defensive as she grabbed at her weapon's hilt whilst Ruby had asked her feline Faunus friend if she heard that. Blake's only reply was a curt, "That was Dichro," as she drew Gambol Shroud.

Hearing the unsheathing of metal, the leader of Team RWBY held up a hand to stall Blake before turning her head enough to see the Cat Faunus and told her, "Don't. I can use my Semblance to get in and out a lot faster than you can." Taken aback slightly at this, she tried to ask the crimson reaper if she was sure about that, to which the girl's reply was a simple nod before she made a dash for the area. Too bad she never made it three feet in front of her; as she made her charge, the students still gathering sap all started to cry out in shock and horror as a swarm of what looked to be a new type of Grimm started to stampede through their area. Several of which slammed head-first into Ruby and sent her sailing into the air before landing in Blake's arms just as the black assassin made a leap for the younger girl. Wrapping her arms around her partner's sister's torso, the Cat Faunus brought her legs up and landed on top of one of the creatures' heads before leaping off and into one of the larger trees' branches for safety. Looking around, it was clear several of the other students were just as wise in their decision; least of which included Jaune, whose clothes were partially covered in blasted ash as if he detonated a mine, hanging from his sword impaled into the tree, across the path from hers and Ruby's, he was on with his feet being used as leverage to keep him up as well as Ren who was simply crouching on one of the lower branches of the same tree the blond knight was on. Said knight turned to his teammate and asked him if he knew what the creatures were, to which he got a shake of the raven haired young man's head of negative in reply.

Blake called out to Jaune and Ren to see if they were alright. Ren nodded affirmatively while Jaune gave a simple thumbs-up. Taking a look around, it seemed as though the supposed Grimm weren't even interested in the students at all; almost as if they were in a hurry to get away; from what, the Cat Faunus couldn't quite place it, but she could tell there were a LOT of them - even moreso than a normal Beowolf pack.

"I think they might be a new type of Grimm!" they heard Quartz yell out from her position atop a tree further out to Blake's right, "I've never seen nor heard of Grimm that look like these before!"

"They also look like they're running away from something!" Blake added as she continued to observe the new Grimm. Before anyone could ask what she meant, though, a powerful crackling roar echoed out which nearly shook those that weren't holding or latched onto their trees out; even Ren had to switch from crouching to wrapping his arms and legs around the branch as it shook. As the group turned to the direction the sound presumably came from, their eyes all went wide in shock and horror at the gigantic monstrosity before them; a bubbling mass of purple goo shaped like a three-headed, wingless, quadrupedal dragon. The creature unleashed another crackling roar as it started to march onward towards Vale.

"I think we just found out what they were running from!" Ren called out as he started to hop from his branch down to the ground, now clear of the strange Grimm.

"It's headed for Vale!" Ruby stated as she freed herself from Blake's arms and fell to the ground onto her feet.

"Of course, Captain Obvious, but why? It's clearly not a Grimm from the looks of it," Weiss observed aloud as she drew her weapon. "Who cares why, we have to stop it!" the crimson reaper shot back as she converted her weapon into its rifle mode.

"I'm not too sure..." Blake started to say as she hopped back down onto the ground, "But I think that's the thing Dichro was warning us about; I think it's another Bugster."

The group turned to her in shock before turning their attention back to the creature, though it was Pyrrha who was the first to ask, "You mean that thing is the same as Quartz here?" Blake simply shook her head negative before replying, "I'm not entirely sure, but if I had to guess, I would say that it was either another Bugster or one of those Unions he tried explaining to us."

"Either way, we need to find a way to slow it down," the Spartan interjected as she drew Milo and converted it into its rifle mode before turning to Ruby, "Ruby; help me draw its attention." With a quick nod, both girls hoisted their weapons to eye level and took aim at the middle head's neck before they opened fire on it. Both shots sailed through the air as they precisely nailed the creature's spine. Instead of the usual impact, however, the shots both flew straight through the mass as if it wasn't even there with bold light blue letters appearing where each shot had landed on the creature's neck; each one spelling out " _MISS!_ " as they made 'contact' with the creature's skin. All those present to the scene could only stare in shock at what they just barely witnessed; had any of them blinked, they would most definitely have missed the bold words spelling out the futility of their situation with none moreso shocked than the two who had fired the shots in the first place.

"WHAT!?" both the Spartan and the crimson reaper cried out in dismay as the creature continued its march towards Vale.

Blake was the first to recover as she pointed out, "That proves it; that thing HAS to be a Bugster. Nothing but another Bugster or a Kamen Rider can damage it."

"Which means we need someone to go find Dichro to take care of this thing because Quartz is all but useless," Weiss declared. While Quartz knew this was true, it didn't mean the heiress' words stung any less; she had no way of manifesting her powers ever since she took on a human form save for her teleportation and entering her scroll. As the white haired girl turned to Ruby as if to tell her to begin the search, her actions, however, were interrupted as she heard the stern voice of their professor tell them, "I'm afraid that will not be possible." As the students turned to look for the source of the voice, they find Goodwitch using her riding crop to levitate what appeared to be the GGD. Ren immediately ran to a bruised up Nora's side after seeing her carrying a heavily injured and weaponless Yang draped over her shoulders with Magnhild being carried by a less than flustered Coco. At seeing her half sister in the condition she was in, Ruby cried out her name in shock and horror as she made a beeline for Yang; almost running into Ren along the way. Weiss could only stare in shock at seeing what was arguably one of the strongest people she's known since her sister in such a terrible state. Jaune cringed in disgust at seeing the mess the blonde brawler had become whilst Pyrrha held in a mortified gasp with a hand cupped over her mouth. None, however, were hit hardest about her condition than Quartz whose face slowly contorted from shock to realized horror when she saw the GGD being held up in the air and looked once more to the monstrous beast. Blake wanted to ask what had happened, but the Bugster girl had beat her to the punch by asking if the creature was actually Dichro. At this, everyone's attention shifted to her, easily startled by the realization that their friend had become a monstrosity, only for whatever hopes they had for her to be wrong to be shot down as Glynda stated solemnly, "Simply put, that thing that's attacking... IS Dichro."

"What the hell?!" cried out Jaune as he motioned to the monster, "You seriously mean that thing's Dichro?! How the hell are we supposed to even DO anything, then?! We can't harm it in the sense that it's still our friend in there somewhere AND the fact that it's literally IMMUNE to anything we do to it!"

"How are we supposed to deal with that thing?" Weiss demanded as she became just as flustered as the blond knight right as the creature had roared once more. Looking back, they noticed it was almost to Vale before it rammed into something; hard. As it made contact, the area shimmered with a light blue energy that pulsed around the entirety of the city, giving off an almost dome shape with small, transparent hexagon shapes stacked together to give it its shape. Seeing this, Quartz exclaimed that the Vale Blossom Tower's force-field generator must have activated on its own like it would in " _SKYLINERS_ ".

"Which means the tower's almost fully automated?" Blake asked in curiosity, to which she got a negatory answer from the Bugster girl. Ruby took the time to front the unasked question by saying, "Only the force-field is fully automated; everything else still needs people running it. Regardless, it means we have some time to figure something out."

"But not long," Quartz interjected, "That field was meant to prevent Grimm from getting inside; not another Bugster."

"Ss'not a Buh... Bugster..." Yang stuttered out as she gasped for air, "Ss'a... Union..."

"Yang, please try to rest," Ruby tried to request her sister, but it was unheard as she continued.

"Kill it... To separate... Virus from... Dichro..."

"But HOW?!" once more, the heiress demanded, "HOW are we supposed to do that if we don't have another Kamen Rider?!"

"Especially a level 1," Quartz added in, "I remember once hearing Dichro talk about how only a Level 1 Kamen Rider can safely separate a Bugster from its host."

"That... Kinda makes things even more difficult..." Jaune stated as another ground-shaking impact can be heard. Blake took the time to look at the device in her hands as she thought about what the old man had said; about how it could grant her the power to defy Oum himself. 'If there was ever a time I needed that power,' she mused to herself as she gripped the device harder, 'Now would be that time. I cannot stand here idly while my friends suffer for my inaction... I've already had too many suffer for that.' Turning to the creature as it slammed its massive heads against the field, the Cat Faunus glared harshly at it whilst thinking, 'This is my chance to help right some of the wrongs I've committed; to bring justice back to my actions... And to prove that I won't let my friends down!'

"I'll deal with it..." Blake stated coolly as she brought the device up above her shoulder.

"What do you mean 'you'll deal with it'?!" Weiss questioned in shock, "That thing will squash you like you were a leaf on the ground!"

"I don't care; we don't have any other options and time's running out," the Cat Faunus replied as she gripped the device in her hand harder. As if to prove her point, the creature stood on its hind legs and slammed its forelimbs into the force field; once more causing the light blue energy to pulse around the city. She lifted the device and inspected it swiftly to see if there was anything she could do with it, but all she could find was the single button on the side. "Here goes nothing..." she mumbled to herself in uncertainty as she tapped the button with her thumb. Upon doing so, a strange sound similar to a chime echoed out as the panel lit up a lime green color. The panel flashed with each word a somber disembodied voice spoke out as it announced the activation of the Gashat.

" **Kamen Rider Chronicle!** "

All of a sudden, a quick and seemingly dramatic music began to play as a pulse of lime green energy shot out from it. Anything that wasn't a living being and came into contact with the pulse became split apart into small, lime-colored cubes before reforming back together as it passed. Looking around, nothing seemingly appeared behind her, but it was evident that the device was working. 'Perhaps it needs another action...' she deduced as she looked at the device once more, ignoring her friends' confusion as to what they had seen, 'Maybe pressing the button again will trigger something?' She pressed it and felt a rather odd sensation running up her arm before spreading throughout her entire body from her core. It wasn't painful, but it wasn't entirely unpleasant either; along the lines of lightly rubbing sandpaper across her skin if she had to assume. Her body began to be enveloped by a white light along with the outlines of yellow squares as her silhouette began to conform to a plain shape that soon started to take on a slightly more androgynous form. As this was going on, a quick-paced techno tune was playing out from the device as another, more electronic and energetic voice announced a rather strange phrase.

" **ENTER THE GAME! RI-RIDING THE END!** "

As the tune finished, the light and squares all dispersed to reveal Blake's new form; an almost entirely black suit with white lines along the outer sides of her legs and waist with a chestnut brown torso piece that had a short collar around her neck and a tan chestplate which had a black section covering where her now flat chest's pecks were, a pair of chestnut brown pads covering her shoulders with bands directly underneath them and around her wrists, a silvery white belt across her waistline, and silvery white plates of metal across her forearms and the backs of her hands. On her legs was another set of chestnut brown bands across her mid-thighs and above her ankles with those having an enlarged face portion with upsidedown cream colored triangles, chestnut brown trim going over and along the bottom sides of her new feet, and a cream colored knee pad and shin pad adorning each of her shins and knees. Her helmet was mostly tan colored with a chestnut brown W above where the mouth would be that helped to shape her visor which also happened to be tan colored. The entire top of the helmet as well as the eyes were that same chestnut brown as the rest of the suit. Atop the helmet were a pair of small, triangular ears. Looking herself over, she had no words to describe the odd sensation of such a 'transformation', if she could call it that. As she glanced over the arm she held the device in, the gashat soon disintegrated into white pixels that were absorbed into her chest. 'Guess I won't have to worry about that for now...' she mused as she continued to inspect herself in awe.

Her friends were more of a mixed bag as they bore witness to the transformation, though once more she ignored them as she looked at her HUD. There was nothing particularly special about it, in her mind; showing the usual health and power meter, the latter of which was completely empty, near the top left side and on the top right side having nothing except a single ' _1_ ' on it where her level would be.

'Wait...' she mentally told herself as she looked at it again, 'That's...' Hope began to swell inside her as she broke out into a grin. "I'm a Level 1!" she exclaimed, "I can actually stand a chance against it!" Her teammates and allies all looked at her in shock at the exclamation before Ruby broke out in a cheer for her friend to kick the monster's ass.

"If you honestly believe this will work," Ren began to say as he brought a hand to his chin, "Then I believe you."

"Well, I don't 'believe' this will work," Glynda interjected with Weiss agreeing with her, "but it's the best option we have at the moment."

"Yo, partner..." Yang called out weakly with a small smile. As Blake turned to her injured teammate, the blonde brawler shakingly held up her hand in a thumbs-down pose as she told her, "Take tha thing... down..." With a simple nod, she turned back to the creature which was now turning back around to bring its gaze onto the group, or more specifically Blake, as if responding to a challenge. The Cat Faunus brought her hands together and cracked her knuckles before breaking out into a run at the creature as she began to muddle on what this situation means for her. 'If I can beat this thing...' she mused as she ran at rather high speeds towards it, 'If I can actually free a Kamen Rider... Then I stand a chance at actually making my dream... No... My ideals into reality.' The creature lifted its front left claw into the air and started to bring it down on top of her. Catching sight of this, she narrowly rolled out of the way and brought herself back up to her feet, almost ignorant of the shockwaves, and slammed her right foot into the heel of the creature's foot; which actually made the creature's entire leg slide forward and caused it to stumble onto its left side, eliciting a crackling honk of surprise as it crashed into the ground. Blake once more rolled away from the impact site as she continued to think on the possibilities.

'This world deserves to live in peace with harmony being brought to the innocent and justice to the guilty,' she mused as she stood back up to take in the sight of the creature as it started to straighten itself back up.

'And Kamen Rider Blake will be the one to bring it all.'

* * *

)-xXx-(

* * *

And there you have it; I know the ending seems really rushed, but I didn't want anyone out there to wait any longer for an actual chapter...

Once more, I apologize for how long this took to get out, but I am not going to abandon it. So until next time...

See you next game!

*wrench(n) = something unpleasant that happens and that causes you to feel emotional pain


End file.
